LI  E>  RARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

Of    ILLINOIS 

977  2 
InZ 


SIX.  «i!ST.  SURVH 


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INDIANA  COVERLETS 

AND 

COVERLET  WEAVERS 


By 
KATE  MILNER  RABB 


Indiana  Historical 

Society  Publications 

Volume  8 

Number  8 


INDIANAPOLIS 

PRINTED   FOR   THE   SOCIETY 

1928 


INDIANA  COVERLETS  AND  COVERLET  WEAVERS 

The  Processes  of  Coverlet  Weaving 

Until  a  few  years  ago,  very  little  was  known  of  the  hand- 
crafts of  our  early  Indiana  pioneers.  While  many  specimens 
of  their  work  have  survived,  little  interest  has  been  shown  in 
them,  and  many  specimens  of  beautiful  weaving  of  the  pioneer 
mothers  have  been  relegated  to  the  attic  or  have  been  degraded 
to  the  most  humble  household  use.  Not  until  the  celebration 
in  1916  of  Indiana's  centennial  of  statehood,  were  attics  ran- 
sacked and  old  chests  opened  to  reveal  the  wealth  of  handcraft, 
the  work  of  our  pioneer  men  and  women,  which  still  remains 
in  the  state.  Most  beautiful  of  all  these  specimens  were  the 
coverlets,  double  and  single,  whose  intricate  patterns  and  rich 
coloring  set  off  the  centennial  displays  of  pioneer  furniture. 
A  year  or  so  before,  a  book  on  the  subject  of  hand- woven 
coverlets  had  been  published  in  the  east,  and  a  study  of  its 
plates  revealed  the  fact  that  examples  fully  as  beautiful  were 
to  be  found  in  many  Indiana  homes,  some  of  them  brought 
from  other  states  as  part  of  a  pioneer  girl's  dowry;  many  of 
them  the  work  of  Indiana  weavers.  Then  it  was  deeply  re- 
gretted that  these  pieces  of  pioneer  weaving  had  been  so  hardly 
used,  sometimes  as  covering  for  ironing  boards,  or,  in  the 
country,  as  horse  blankets,  or  to  spread  over  vegetables  or 
tobacco.  The  interest  aroused  at  this  time  by  the  study  of  the 
patterns  has  resulted  in  the  accumulation  of  a  considerable 
amount  of  information  concerning  these  covers  and  the  men 
and  women  who  made  them.  This  information,  while  as  yet 
incomplete,  is  collected  in  this  pamphlet  in  the  hope  that  it  may 
result  in  arousing  still  further  interest  in  hand-woven  coverlets 

(395) 


396  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 

and  stimulate  research  in  the  history  of  coverlet  weaving  in 
this  state. 

Until  recently  so  little  has  been  known  about  coverlets  that 
the  name  itself  is  often  misapplied,  so  that  the  coverlet  is  some- 
times called  a  spread,  sometimes  a  counterpane,  and  sometimes 
a  quilt.  A  newspaper  picture  some  months  ago  showed  a  group 
of  Berea  College  students  presenting  a  coverlet  to  Mrs. 
Coolidge,  but  the  caption  read  that  the  "quilt"  which  they 
presented  her  was  "spun,  dyed,  and  woven"  by  students  of  the 
college.  The  mistake  is  not  surprising,  since  the  words  are  used 
interchangeably  in  the  dictionary.  As  the  terms  were  used  in 
this  country  in  the  days  when  these  articles  were  all  made  by 
hand,  the  spread  and  the  counterpane  were  bed  coverings  woven 
of  cotton  or  linen,  and  the  quilt  was  pieced  of  scraps  of  cotton 
materials,  laid  over  a  piece  of  muslin  with  a  layer  of  cotton 
between,  and  quilted  by  hand  in  intricate  patterns.  The  cover- 
let was  woven  on  a  loom  from  materials  prepared  by  the 
housewife,  usually  linen  or  cotton  for  the  warp,  and  wool  for 
the  woof.  The  word  "coverlid"  is  a  mispronunciation  of 
"coverlet"  which  means,  presumably,  a  little  cover.  It  is  said 
that  the  mountaineers  of  North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  and 
Kentucky,  among  whom  this  ancient  art  has  been  preserved, 
gave  the  word  this  mispronunciation,  and  sometimes  they 
shorten  it  to  "kiver."  There  is  no  reason  why  we  should 
perpetuate  the  mispronunciation  "coverlid"  any  more  than  we 
should  say  "kiver." 

The  art  of  coverlet  weaving  was  brought  to  America  in  the 
seventeenth  century  from  the  Netherlands,  France,  the  British 
Isles,  Switzerland,  Norway,  and  Sweden.  It  is  said  that  a 
coverlet  weaver  came  over  with  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  and  that 
French  Huguenots  carried  the  art  to  the  south.  From  the  time 
of  the  earliest  settlements  until  long  after  the  Revolution, 
coverlet  weavers  came  to  America  from  these  countries,  partic- 
ularly from  Scotland,  and  followed  the  stream  of  emigration 
across  the  Alleghenies. 

In  order  to  understand  the  history  of  coverlet  weaving  in 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  397 

the  United  States,  one  must  first  learn  the  method  of  its  manu- 
facture. There  are  two  kinds  of  coverlets,  known  as  the 
"single"  and  the  "double."  The  "single"  coverlet  was  woven 
by  the  housewife  on  the  hand  loom  on  which  she  also  wove 
sheets,  blankets,  and  linsey-woolsey.  This  hand  loom  was  as 
much  a  part  of  the  household  outfit  in  colonial  times  and  later 
in  pioneer  days  of  the  middle  west,  as  were  the  "big"  wheel,  the 
"little"  or  flax  wheel,  the  reel,  and  other  implements  required 
for  the  manufacture  of  cloth.  The  "double"  coverlet  was  made 
on  a  different  kind  of  loom,  much  more  complicated,  and  there- 
fore always  made  by  a  so-called  professional  weaver.  Some- 
times this  man  set  up  what  he  often  called  his  "factory"  in 
a  town  or  in  the  country  on  his  farm ;  sometimes  he  was  an 
itinerant  weaver,  though  we  have  no  record  of  itinerants  in  this 
state.  His  covers  are  called  "double"  because  in  certain  parts 
of  the  design  the  fabric  can  be  taken  between  the  fingers  and 
pulled  apart,  as  though  it  were  two  coverlets,  joined  in  places  by 
the  pattern.  The  late  Arthur  Osborn,  of  Spiceland,  Indiana,  is 
authority  for  the  statement  that  this  was  sometimes  called 
"division  weaving." 

In  the  case  of  both  "double"  and  "single"  coverlets,  prepara- 
tion of  the  material  was  the  same.  A  brief  account  of  this 
preparation  and  the  labor  involved  should  inspire  a  greater 
respect  for  the  makers  of  these  coverlets.  For  both  varieties 
of  coverlets  the  loom  was  strung  with  either  flax  or  cotton 
thread.  The  flax  thread  was  used  in  the  earlier  days,  before 
cotton  was  procurable.  The  following  description  of  the 
preparation  of  the  flax  for  household  use  was  prepared  by 
the  late  Rufus  Dooley,  of  Rockville,  Indiana,  who  states : 

There  are  not  many  people  now  living  who  remember  the  intricate 
details  and  many  complex  variations  of  the  flax  industry  of  the  early 
times.  Some  seventy  or  seventy-five  years  ago  it  was  no  small  part  of 
the  economic  life  of  the  people  who  built  their  homes  and  lived  their 
lives  in  the  woods.  The  larger  part  of  the  wearing  apparel  for  men 
and  boys  was  made  of  home-made  flax  cloth.  Bed  sheets  and  grain 
sacks,  towels,  and  many  other  household  articles  were  made  of  the  same 
material.  The  grain  sacks  held  three  bushels  of  wheat,  and  the  boy  who 
could  not  shoulder  three  bushels  of  wheat  had  not  yet  arrived  at  man's 
estate. 


398  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 


The  various  divisions  of  the  industry  were  conducted  by  both  men 
and  women;  there  were  many  processes,  and  a  small  piece  of  special 
machinery  was  required  for  each  process.  The  seed  was  sown  in  the 
early  spring  in  the  usual  broadcast  way,  on  about  half  an  acre  of  ground, 
and  was  harvested  by  pulling  it  up  by  the  roots,  following  the  hay 
harvest.  It  was  then  bound  in  bundles  as  wheat  was  bound,  up  to  the 
time  of  the  invention  of  the  self-binder.  After  it  had  dried,  it  was  opened 
and  spread  out  on  a  clean,  level  meadow,  in  nice  straight  rows,  and 
allowed  to  remain  there  for  two  weeks  or  more,  subject  to  the  rain,  the 
dew,  the  wind  and  the  sunshine,  until  the  woody  part  of  the  stalk  had 
decayed  and  become  brittle,  and  could  easily  be  separated  from  the 
fiber  by  the  succeeding  processes  of  breaking,  scutching,  and  hackling. 
After  rotting,  it  was  stored  in  the  barn  until  thoroughly  dry,  and  during 
the  cold  dry  days  of  the  later  winter,  the  process  of  manufacture  began 
in  earnest. 

First,  the  "brake,"  the  indescribable  flax  brake,  operated  by  a  man 
with  muscle ;  this  broke  the  woody  part  of  the  stalk  into  small  bits,  and 
made  it  ready  for  the  next  process,  the  scutching  board.  This,  too,  was 
usually  a  man's  job,  but  from  that  on,  through  the  first,  or  coarse  hackle, 
the  second  or  finer  hackle,  and  the  third  or  finest  hackle,  the  work  be- 
came woman's  prerogative. 

This  third  hackle  left  the  flax  in  a  perfect  condition,  ready  for 
spinning,  which  was  done  on  a  small  spinning  wheel,  operated  by  foot 
power.  The  material  to  be  spun  was  held  in  place  by  a  "rock"  attached 
to  the  little  spinning  wheel ;  it  was  usually  of  home  construction  made 
from  the  limb  of  a  tree  with  four  prongs  brought  together  at  the  top 
and  tied  with  a  string  in  the  form  of  a  cone.  From  the  "spindle"  the 
material  was  wound  off  onto  the  "reel,"  and  from  there  to  the  "winding 
blades,"  back  to  the  little  wheel  again,  where  it  was  run  on  "quills"  to 
fit  the  weaver's  shuttle.  The  loom  was  a  very  practical  piece  of  old  time 
machinery,  not  a  nail  in  it,  held  together  with  mortices,  tenons,  and 
wooden  keys.  It  could  easily  be  taken  down  when  necessary  and  put 
away  in  a  small  place.  On  such  looms  as  this  were  woven  the  beautiful 
coverlets  so  much  admired  to-day. 

Later,  when  cotton  was  available,  cotton  thread  was  used 
instead  of  the  linen.  The  preparation  of  the  wool  was  fully 
as  elaborate  as  that  of  the  flax,  for  it  involved  shearing,  wash- 
ing, picking,  carding,  spinning,  and  dyeing,  all  in  preparation 
for  the  weaving.  Mrs.  J.  J.  Netterville,  of  Anderson,  and  the 
late  Mrs.  Almira  H.  Hadley,  of  Mooresville,  have  given  de- 
scriptions of  this  work.  Sometimes  the  sheep  were  washed  in 
a  running  stream  before  shearing,  but  more  often  the  sheared 
wool  was  taken  through  a  process  similar  to  the  family  wash- 
ing (minus  the  boiling)  and  spread  on  the  grass  to  dry.  Mrs. 
Netterville  mentions  the  old  method  of  heating  the  water  out- 
doors in  big  iron  kettles  hung  on  a  pole  with  forks  at  each  end, 
over  a  fire.     When  the  wool  was  ready  for  the  picking,  the 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  399 

neighbor  women  were  invited  in  to  do  the  work,  which  was 
followed  by  a  dinner,  making  a  most  desirable  gala  occasion.  A 
clean  sheet  was  spread  in  the  middle  of  the  room  on  the  floor 
and  the  women  took  up  hands  ful  of  the  wool  at  a  time,  pulled 
it  apart,  and  plucked  back  and  forth  until  it  was  entirely  free 
from  any  sediment,  Spanish  needles,  or  "stick  tights."  The 
cleaned  wool  was  then  tossed  on  the  sheet  in  the  center. 

Carding  was  the  next  process,  the  cleaned  wool  being 
"combed"  with  the  hand  cards  into  so-called  rolls  for  spinning. 
Later  there  were  established  "carding  mills"  to  which  the  wool 
was  taken  to  be  carded.  A  distinctly  middle-western  story  is 
that  told  by  Lydia  Morris  Arnold,  a  pioneer  teacher  of  Grant 
County,  of  the  primitive  methods  of  the  carding  mill.  When 
the  wool  was  carded  at  the  carding  mill,  the  rolls  were  "put  in 
layers  on  the  sheets  the  wool  was  brought  to  mill  in,  then  rolled 
up  very  tight  and  pinned  with  thorns.  My  brother  earned  his 
first  'big  money,'  as  he  thought,  by  gathering  thorns  to  sell  to 
the  proprietor  of  the  mill  at  so  much  a  dozen."1 

Spinning  came  next,  the  "big  wheel"  being  used  for  this. 
F.  M.  Wiley,  of  Indianapolis,  recalls  from  his  boyhood  that  the 
wool  was  held  at  the  end  of  the  spindle  till  it  twisted  fast.  Then 
the  spinner  whirled  the  wheel  rapidly,  walking  backward,  until 
the  wool  stretched  out  into  a  long  thread.  The  spinner  then 
stepped  out  from  the  wheel  and  stretched  out  an  arm  to  keep 
the  thread  at  such  an  angle  that  it  would  twist  with  the  spindle 
but  not  wind  up  on  it.  When  the  twisting  was  completed,  the 
spinner  stepped  in  and  held  the  thread  close  to  the  wheel  so  that 
it  would  wind  up  on  the  spindle  as  she  walked  forward  again. 
Another  roll  was  attached  to  the  first  by  lapping  the  thin  ends 
and  holding  them  together  with  thumb  and  finger  until  they  be- 
gan to  twist,  then  backward  again  as  she  drew  out  another 
thread.  The  thread  thus  spun  was  wound  upon  a  clock  reel, 
which,  after  a  certain  number  of  revolutions,  would  click,  an- 
nouncing that  a  "cut"  had  been  spun. 


1Baldwin,    Edgar   M.f    The   Making   of   a    Tozvnship,  p.   86    (Fair- 
mount,  Indiana,  1917). 


400  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 

The  "cuts"  thus  prepared  must  next  be  dyed,  a  process  which 
greatly  taxed  the  ingenuity  of  the  housewife  who  must  find 
her  materials  for  dyeing  in  roots,  bark,  flowers,  and  plants. 
Little  did  she  guess  how  superior  were  her  products  to  the 
aniline  dyes  which  were  destined  to  supplant  them  in  the  days 
when  the  machine  would  succeed  the  hand  loom.  Mrs.  Mary 
Carter,  founder  of  the  English  Society  of  Hand  Weavers,  a 
Scottish  woman  who  learned  the  craft  in  her  native  village 
where  spinning,  dyeing,  and  weaving  are  done  at  home  in  the 
fashion  of  primitive  days,  in  a  recent  article  in  The  Arts  and 
Crafts,  published  in  London,  says  that  despite  the  skill  of  the 
chemist  and  chemical  knowledge  used  in  the  great  dyeing  works, 
vegetable  dyes  still  maintain  a  superiority  dependent  upon  quite 
simple  qualities.  These  colors  from  vegetable  dyes  are  full, 
lustrous,  and  bright,  and  have  remarkable  endurance.  Even 
when  considerably  faded  they  keep  their  beauty  and  charm. 
Dyeing  is  a  very  distinctive  process,  and  no  two  people  can  ever 
be  depended  upon  to  get  exactly  the  same  color.  The  individ- 
uality of  each  dyer  comes  out  in  the  dyeing,  just  as  the 
individuality  of  the  musician  comes  out  in  the  playing  of  a 
particular  piece  of  music.  It  is  this  individuality  in  dyeing  and 
weaving  that  doubtless  gives  the  old  coverlets  half  their  charm. 

The  colors  most  frequently  used  were  red  and  blue,  combined 
with  white,  but  many  old  coverlets  are  found  in  which  are 
mingled  green,  pink,  yellow,  saffron,  and  purplish  lavender, 
perhaps  best  described  as  wistaria.  In  her  Book  of  Hand-woven 
Coverlets  Eliza  Calvert  Hall  gives  many  recipes  for  vegetable 
dyes  which  she  got  from  mountain  women  in  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee.  Very  few  recipes  of  this  kind  have  been  collected  in 
Indiana,  but  the  tradition  has  been  handed  down  of  dyeing  dull 
yellow  or  butternut  with  the  inner  bark  of  the  white  walnut 
tree ;  and  blue  and  red,  with  indigo  and  madder  respectively. 
Hal  C.  Phelps,  of  Peru,  took  down  from  Mrs.  Magdelena  Hiner 
Wilson,  of  Miami  County,  Indiana,  the  dyes  she  used  in  color- 
ing the  yarn  for  a  coverlet  of  the  "Virginia  Ring"  pattern,  made 
in  1850,  and  now  in  the  historical  museum  at  Peru. 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  401 

For  the  blue  used  in  this  coverlet :  rainwater  and  indigo  in  a  sack ; 
a  handful  of  bran.  Work  the  indigo  in  the  sack  with  the  hands  each 
and  every  day  until  it  is  dissolved.  Let  it  work  or  ferment  until  it  has  a 
bad  odor.  Then  place  the  material  in  it  to  be  dyed  and  heat  it  or  boil  it 
until  it  has  the  desired  depth  of  color. 

For  red :  water,  and  a  handful  of  bran  and  madder.  Place  in  a 
kettle  and  scald.  Place  the  yarn  in  the  kettle  and  heat  it,  boiling  until 
the  desired  color  is  obtained. 

For  green  and  yellow :  smart  weed  in  water  makes  yellow.  Peach 
leaves  in  water  make  green.  Place  material  to  be  colored  in  this  liquid 
and  boil.  All  these  are  fast  colors.  For  walnut  brown,  boil  white 
walnut  bark  in  kettle  and  then  put  in  yarn  or  material  and  boil  until  the 
light  or  dark  brown  desired  is  obtained. 

C.  G.  McNeill,  of  Cincinnati,  formerly  of  Perrysville,  Indi- 
ana, writes  as  follows  of  the  blue  coverlet  dyes. 

The  old  coverlet  dyes  were  mostly  home  made,  and  the  one  color 
that  seems  to  have  in  greatest  degree  the  charm  of  remaining  fresh  and 
bright  through  all  the  years  was  the  blue,  the  indigo  which  was  home- 
made from  home-grown  plants. 

I  have  known  two  garden  beds  of  indigo  which  were  in  recent 
existence ;  one  is  still  in  growth  and  plants  are  given  away  to  visitors 
at  an  old  Ohio  home.  My  grandmother,  Hannah  Maher  McNeill,  had 
such  a  garden  at  Perrysville  which  was  still  kept  to  the  fourth  generation 
of  her  family  and  may  be  growing  yet.  I  have  not  been  there  in  the 
growing  season  for  several  years,  and  do  not  know  whether  it  still  exists 
or  not.  The  house  passed  out  of  the  family  and  the  bed,  about  4x12 
feet,  may  not  have  been  preserved  by  the  present  occupants. 

What  sometimes  seems  to  be  an  additional  color  in  a  design 
is  due  to  the  ingenuity  of  the  old  weaver,  who  discovered  that 
"warping"  or  twisting  two  threads  of  different  colors  tightly 
gave  the  effect  of  a  different  color.  Dark  red  and  blue  twisted 
tightly  gave  the  effect  of  brown,  and  two  different  shades  of 
blue  gave  a  third  entirely  different. 

While  no  one  thought,  before  it  was  too  late,  to  take  down 
the  recipes  for  vegetable  dyes  used  by  these  pioneer  Indiana 
women,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  they  were  fully  as 
adept  with  the  dye  pot  as  were  their  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
and  North  Carolina  sisters,  and  the  proof  of  this  statement  is  to 
be  found  in  the  beautiful  greens,  reds,  and  blues,  with  an 
occasional  touch  of  wistaria  in  the  "double  rose"  designs  of 
Henry  Adolph,  and  the  blue,  old  rose,  and  pale  yellow  of  one 
of  F.  A.  Kean's  coverlets,  to  say  nothing  of  other,  unknown 
weavers  whose  work  has  been  preserved. 


402  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 

The  wool  being  carded,  spun,  and  dyed,  its  disposition  must 
next  be  decided  by  the  pioneer  housewife.  Before  the  day  of 
the  professional  weaver,  the  "single"  coverlet  was  woven  by 
some  member  of  the  household,  or  a  woman  of  some  other 
household  who  had  time  for  such  work  outside  her  round  of 
daily  duties.  As  has  already  been  said,  the  hand  loom  was  an 
important  part  of  the  family  equipment.  Hal  C.  Phelps,  of 
Peru,  quotes  an  interview  with  Mrs.  Mary  M.  Phelps  Miller, 
then  eighty-eight  years  old,  whose  mother  and  grandmother  had 
learned  the  art  of  coverlet  weaving  in  New  York  state.  The 
loom,  according  to  Mrs.  Miller,  occupied  a  small  room  in  the 
house,  and  her  grandmother  warned  her,  as  a  child,  not  to  touch 
anything  about  it  for  fear  she  would  break  a  thread.  Mrs. 
Miller,  when  a  young  woman,  with  her  mother  worked  with  the 
wool  from  the  time  it  was  sheared  until  it  became  the  finished 
coverlet.  Mrs.  D.  A.  Porter,  of  Orleans,  Indiana,  tells  the  story 
of  her  aunt,  Mollie  Bowman,  of  Morgan  County,  who  brought 
her  hand  loom  from  North  Carolina  and  did  weaving  for  people 
in  her  neighborhood. 

Having  decided  to  weave  a  coverlet,  and  having  her 
material  prepared,  the  next  decision  must  be  the  selection  of  the 
pattern.  Many  of  these  "single"  coverlets  are  to  be  found  in 
Indiana ;  many  were  woven  in  this  state  by  the  old  patterns  of 
colonial  days,  still  preserved  in  the  remote  districts  of  the  Ap- 
palachian mountains  where  Elizabethan  English  is  still  spoken. 
I  have  seen  in  many  Indiana  coverlet  exhibits  the  familiar  pat- 
terns, "King's  Flower,"  "Sunrise,"  "Pine  Bloom,"  "Cat  Track," 
"Single  Chariot  Wheels,"  "Double  Chariot  Wheels,"  "Snail 
Trail,"  and  others.  Some  of  the  "drafts,"  by  following  which 
the  weaver  evolved  the  chosen  pattern,  have  been  preserved. 
At  first  glance,  one  might  easily  take  them  for  bars  of  music, 
but  on  looking  closely,  he  sees,  instead  of  notes  on  the  lines  and 
spaces,  numbers,  or — in  the  more  primitive  ones — marks  to  in- 
dicate numbers.  This  was  probably  done  for  those — and  there 
were  many  at  that  time — who  could  not  read ;  two  marks  stood 
for  the  figure  two,  eight  for  the  figure  eight,  and  so  on.    These 


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SINGLE    COVERLET,    FOUNTAIN    COUNTY    HOUSEWIFE 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  403 

doubtless  denoted  the  number  of  times  the  shuttle  was  to  be 
thrown. 

The  late  Arthur  Osborn,  of  Spiceland,  Indiana,  had  a  large 
collection  of  these  very  old,  crude  patterns,  some  of  them  found 
in  this  state,  others,  in  North  Carolina.  Probably  one  of  the 
most  unique  articles  in  the  history  of  hand-woven  fabrics  is  a 
little  home-made  handbook  of  coverlet  designs  which  he  found 
at  Staley,  Chatham  County,  North  Carolina,  some  years  ago 
and  purchased  of  Miss  Lylna  Jane  Cooper,  an  aged  woman  who 
had  used  it  in  her  youth. 

Back  in  1828  some  humble  weaver  of  coverlets  with  beauty 
in  her  soul,  desiring  to  keep  her  patterns  in  permanent  form, 
made,  with  the  crude  materials  at  her  disposal,  this  little  book, 
eight  inches  in  length,  seven  inches  wide,  and  containing  thirty- 
six  pages.  The  cardboard  cover,  of  a  softness  and  pliability 
that  suggests  leather,  is  embellished  outside  and  in  with  coverlet 
patterns  in  blue  and  white.  Inside,  drawn  by  the  same  pains- 
taking hand,  with  a  goosequill  pen,  on  soft,  hand-made  linen 
paper,  are  the  coverlet  patterns,  colored  blue  and  white,  a  most 
difficult  task,  requiring  many  fine  lines  and  squares.  On  the 
opposite  pages  are  the  drafts  for  the  weaver,  strange  designs, 
meaningless  to  us,  with  marks  instead  of  figures,  directing  the 
weaver  how  many  times  to  throw  the  shuttle  through  the  warp 
strung  on  her  loom.  Beneath  the  drafts  are  written  the  names : 
"Single  Chariot  Wheels,"  "Twelve  Snowballs,"  "Floating  Dia- 
mond," "Double  Compass,"  "Rings  and  Roses,"  and  several 
others. 

On  the  first  page  of  this  little  book,  instead  of  a  draft  are 
twenty-one  closely  written  lines.  "Process  to  dye  cotton  or 
linnen  turkey-red  with — "  and  then  follows,  of  all  things,  a 
cipher!  A  cipher  in  the  North  Carolina  mountains  in  1828! 
Mr.  Osborn  explained  the  cipher  in  this  way.  These  women 
weavers  of  early  days  guarded  the  secrets  of  their  art  jealously. 
The  red  dye  made  of  madder  used  at  that  time  was  a  dull  and 
rather  ugly  color,  which,  if  boiled  too  long,  became  brown. 
The  maker  of  this  little  pattern  book  had  doubtless  discovered 


404  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 

some  plant  decoction  by  which  she  could  dye  a  color  ap- 
proximating the  beautiful  color  known  as  turkey-red,  and  set  it 
down  in  cipher  so  that  no  one  else  could  steal  her  secret.  Alas ! 
among  the  old  linsey-clad  women  with  whom  he  talked  and  of 
one  of  whom  he  purchased  this  book,  he  could  find  none  who 
could  read  this  cipher. 

Mrs.  Valina  (Reynolds)  Millis,  of  Guilford  College,  North 
Carolina,  upon  seeing  the  book  recognized  the  handwriting 
and  code  used  in  the  directions  for  ''Dyeing  Cotton  or  Linnen 
Turkey  Red"  as  those  of  her  Aunt  Delilah  Reynolds,  of  lower 
Guilford  County,  North  Carolina,  since  she  was  familiar  with 
a  diary  and  notes  of  Delilah  Reynolds  in  the  same  handwriting 
and  code. 

ALPHABET     AND    CODE 


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y-6 

e-2 

t-7 

i-3 

n-8 

0-4 

v-9 

u-5 

r-o 

PROCESS  TO  DYE  COTTON  OR  LINNEN  TURKEY  RED,  2Qth,   IimO.,   1829. 

First — make  a  lye  of  one  part  of  good  potash,  dissolved  in  four  parts 
boiling  water;  then  slack  a  half  part  of  lime  in  it,  next  dissolve  one  part 
powdered  alum  in  two  parts  boiling  water  and  whilst  this  last  solution 
is  warm,  pour  the  lye  gradually  into  it,  stirring  and  mixing  them  well 
together.  Then  add  to  the  above  mixture,  thirty-third  part  of  flaxseed 
oil,  which  when  well  mixed  with  it,  will  form  a  rich  milky  substance, 
resembling  thick  cream.  As  the  skeins  of  cotton  are  dipt  into  this  alkaline 
mixture  it  must  be  stirred,  as  the  oil  will  rise  up  to  the  top  of  it  when  at 
rest.  To  ascertain  the  respective  parts  of  the  different  ingredients  as 
named  above,  they  must  all  be  weighed,  beginning  with  the  water  first, 
of  which  there  must  be  enough  to  permit  each  skein  of  cotton  to  be 
entirely  immersed  in  it. 

Before  the  cotton  or  flax  thread,  when  that  is  to  be  dyed,  [is] 
dipped  into  alkaline  mixture,  it  must  first  be  well  bleached  and  cleaned 
by  washing,  of  every  foreign  extraneous  substance :  then  boiled  in 
strong  lye  made  of  potash,  and  dipped  into  alkaline  mixture  while  it  is 
hot  and  as  wet  as  it  [can]  well  be,  when  the  lye  is  well  gotten  out  of  it  by 
drawing  the  skeins  through  the  hands  until  they  become  well  soaked.  As 
each  skein  undergoing  the  above  process  [is  finished],  it  is  to  be  put 
upon  a  pole  in  the  shade  to  dry.  After  remaining  in  that  state  for 
twenty-four  hours,  they  must  be  well  washed  in  pure  running  or  rain 
water,  and  again  dryed,  after  which  they  are  to  be  washed  in  a  strong 
lye  of  good  hickory  ashes  (or  better,  of  potash). 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  405 

Surely,  however,  he  is  lacking  in  imagination  who  can  look  at 
this  thing  of  beauty — for  the  correctness  of  line  of  this  little 
book,  its  soft  coloring,  and  the  sincerity  with  which  it  was 
wrought,  do  make  it  beautiful — and  not  feel  a  thrill  at  the 
thought  of  the  woman  in  her  isolated  mountain  home  who  so 
long  ago  sought  thus  to  express  her  love  of  color  and  form. 

The  state  of  Pennsylvania  cherishes  in  its  museum  as  one 
of  the  most  interesting  documents  in  American  hand  weaving  a 
book  of  coverlet  patterns  which  had  belonged  to  John  Landes, 
of  whom  nothing  is  known  save  that  he  was  an  itinerant  coverlet 
weaver.  These  patterns  have  recently  been  published  by  the 
Shuttlecraft  Guild,  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  because  of 
the  revival  of  interest  in  hand  weaving,  and  particularly  in 
hand-woven  coverlets,  throughout  the  country.  Some  of  the 
Landes  patterns  are  identical  with  those  of  the  Osborn  book, 
but  the  Landes  patterns  have  no  such  artistic  form  as  has  the 
North  Carolina  booklet,  which  should  be  preserved  in  a  museum 
in  this  state  to  which  Mr.  Osborn  brought  it. 

Among  the  separate  drafts  in  Mr.  Osborn's  collection,  some 
of  them  pinned  together  with  hand-made  pins  which  have  held 
them  in  place  since  1828,  is  one  of  the  rare  and  much-prized 
"Bonaparte's  March,"  and  the  pattern  owner's  name,  "Jane 
Ward." 

The  pioneers  who  brought  their  hand  looms  with  them,  or 
who  constructed  them  after  their  arrival,  were  compelled  at 
first  to  crowd  them  into  the  one-room  cabin,  or  in  a  small  room 
built  off  to  one  side.  Later,  the  people  of  greater  means  built 
loom  houses  where  the  weaving  could  be  carried  on  without 
interruption.  The  description  of  an  old  Indiana  loom  house 
which  follows  comes  from  the  pen  of  Charles  G.  McNeill. 

The  noise  of  a  loom  was  considerable.  The  clicking  of  the  shuttle, 
the  beating  of  the  reeds  against  the  web,  the  shifting  of  the  treadles  and 
the  heddles  would  all  begin  when  other  work  about  the  house  was  done. 
It  might  last  an  hour  or  all  day,  or  perhaps  well  into  the  night.  These 
noises,  if  in  the  dwelling,  would  waken  a  sleeping  baby,  disturb  the  rest 
of  the  aged  members  of  the  family,  or  prove  quite  annoying  to  any  who 
were  sick.  So  in  many  pioneer  families  where  there  was  much  weaving  to 
do,  it  was  found  a  great  advantage  to  have  the  loom  in  a  separate  building. 


406  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 


Then,  too,  the  storage  of  materials,  of  finished  products,  and  of  the 
extra  equipment  of  the  loom  took  space  that  could  be  provided  in  a  loom 
house  better  than  in  a  living  room. 

The  same  loom  would  be  used  for  various  kinds  of  weaving;  fine 
linens  or  coarse,  woolens  of  various  grades  including  blankets,  and 
even  carpets,  could  all  be  had  from  the  same  loom  by  changing  reeds, 
heddles,  etc.  There  would  be  need  for  storage  room  for  these  extra 
parts  which  might  seem  unsightly  in  a  dwelling.  Even  the  loom, 
though  sometimes  its  posts  and  beams  were  carved  and  nicely  finished, 
could  hardly  be  thought  an  adornment,  and  the  space  in  a  dwelling  which 
such  things  might  occupy  could  be  put  to  other  use.  Young  children, 
too,  might  injure  some  of  the  parts,  such  as  the  reeds.  One  can  see  that 
in  many  families  there  was  real  need  for  a  loom  house. 

I  am  fortunate  to  be  able  to  send  you  two  good  pictures  of  the 
only  family  loom  house  I  know  of  that  is  in  a  good  state  of  preservation. 
I  do  not  know  its  age.  It  is  at  Perrysville,  Indiana.  The  first  settlers 
there  came  prior  to  1824.  The  town  was  platted  that  year.  I  think  the 
land  on  which  it  stands  was  doubtless  "taken  up"  about  one  hundred 
years  ago,  or  perhaps  a  little  earlier,  and  that  this  loom  house  is  well 
along  towards  one  hundred  year  old. 

It  stands  on  a  bluff  in  a  bend  of  the  Wabash  River,  almost  directly 
across  the  street  from  the  old  seminary  (now  used  as  a  grade  school)  and 
the  new  high  school.  About  half  way  down  the  bluff  a  wonderful  spring 
of  water  bursts  out  from  a  great  crevasse  in  the  rock  which  underlies 
the  region  and  right  at  its  origin  is  a  stream  as  large  as  a  man's  arm, 
sleeve  and  all. 

In  the  old  days  when  the  well  at  the  seminary  got  out  of  order,  the 
school  was  permitted  to  get  its  water  supply  from  this  spring.  A  couple 
of  boys  would  be  sent  like  Jack  and  Jill  "down  the  hill  to  fetch  a  pail 
of  water."  Each  of  the  four  rooms  had  its  pail  and  dipper.  They  must 
pass  right  by  the  loom  house  to  get  to  the  spring;  but  I  suspect  that 
few,  very  few,  knew  that  it  was  or  ever  had  been  a  loom  house.  They 
perhaps  thought  it  was  an  old  smoke  house.  Who  ever  heard  of  a  two- 
story  smoke  house !  It  ceased  to  be  used  as  a  loom  house  about  seventy 
or  eighty  years  ago,  however,  when  a  woolen  factory  was  erected  at  the 
other  side  of  town  by  B.  W.  Riggs  &  Company.  Home  weaving, 
except  rag  carpets,  soon  thereafter  was  discontinued  throughout  the 
neighborhood. 

This  house  belonged  to  a  Mrs.  Carter,  now  long  dead,  and  stands 
directly  in  front  of  the  dwelling,  though  in  the  side  yard.  Mrs.  Carter's 
brothers,  Hiram  and  Lemuel  Chenoweth,  settled  on  the  next  two  farms 
south.  Hiram's  children  still  own  all  three  of  the  properties.  Mrs. 
Carter  lived  to  great  age.  One  son  died  from  wounds  and  exposure  in 
the  Union  army  during  the  Civil  War.  Another  son,  Richard,  also  a 
Union  soldier,  served  as  county  clerk  at  Newport,  Vermilion  County. 
His  daughter,  Grace,  now  Mrs.  Bird  Davis,  assists  her  husband  in  editing 
and  publishing  the  Newport  Hoosier  State.  She  was  born  at  the  old 
Carter  home  at  Perrysville  and  in  her  childhood  played  all  around,  and 
in,  and  perhaps  over,  this  old  loom  house.  And,  oh,  what  a  play  house 
it  must  have  been ! 

After  the  seminary  was  built  and  students  came  from  all  over  the 
county,  and  from  other  counties,  and  from  Illinois,  they  found  boarding 
places  among  various  families  in  the  villiage,  and  some  at  least  "kept 
bach."  Among  the  latter  were  Martin  J.  Barger  and  Samuel  M.  Barger, 
brothers  who  came  from  Illinois.     These  two  boys  rented  this  old  loom 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  407 

house  and  kept  bachelor  hall  in  it,  cooking  and  studying  down  stairs 
and  sleeping  upstairs.  It  doubtless  made  very  comfortable  students' 
quarters  and  certainly  was  convenient  to  the  school. 

The  loom  house  was  probably  built  by  a  Mr.  Benefiel,  a  carpenter  by 
trade,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  in  Perrysville,  coming  there  from 
Kentucky  over  a  century  ago. 

Professional  Weavers 

As  the  state  became  more  thickly  settled  and  the  people 
became  more  prosperous,  the  professional  coverlet  weaver  ap- 
peared, a  man  who  had  learned  the  art  of  "double  weaving"  in 
Europe,  and  who  came  out  to  the  middle-western  states,  and  set 
up  his  elaborate  looms  in  the  towns  or  in  some  prosperous 
settlement  in  the  country.  As  will  be  seen  in  the  account  of 
Indiana  professional  weavers  which  follows  this,  some  of  these 
men  came  alone,  and  some  came  with  their  brothers,  all  skilled  in 
the  trade.  That  there  was  a  great  demand  for  their  work  is 
shown  by  the  account  of  William  Muir  and  his  brothers,  of 
whom  it  was  said  that  their  work  was  promised  as  far  ahead  as 
three  years,  and  that  they  sat  at  their  looms  for  hours  without 
sleep  in  order  to  get  their  work  out  at  the  time  it  was  promised. 

The  housewife's  joy  can  be  imagined  at  the  thought  that 
now  she  was  to  be  relieved  of  the  tedious  labor  of  weaving,  and 
was  also  to  be  able  to  possess  bed  covers  of  more  elaborate  and 
beautiful  patterns.  As  before,  she  prepared  the  wool,  dyed  it, 
and  when  it  was  all  ready,  carried  it  to  the  weaver.  Mrs.  J.  J. 
Netterville,  of  Anderson,  remembers,  as  a  little  girl,  going  with 
her  mother  in  the  wagon  driven  by  her  father  to  the  home  of 
William  Hicks,  a  weaver,  on  Killbuck  Creek,  Madison  County, 
and  playing  about  while  her  mother  selected  the  patterns  for 
her  coverlets. 

These  "double"  coverlet  patterns  were  many  and  elaborate. 
In  the  Indiana  collections  are  found  many  "double"  coverlets  in 
the  "Lover's  Knot,"  the  "Double  Roses,"  "Frenchman's  Fancy," 
"Liberty,"  and  other  elaborate  designs  known  in  other  states 
as  well  as  many  presumably  original  designs.  They  could 
be  woven  in  blue  and  white,  red  and  white,  or  in  mixtures  of 
red,  white,  and  blue,  varied  with  the  warping,  or  in  other  colors 


408  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 

if  the  housewife  could  prepare  them.  These  "double  cover- 
lets" were  woven  almost  always  in  two  strips,  as  were  the 
"single"  ones,  but  occasionally  some  weaver  possessed  a  double 
loom  and  wove  the  coverlet  in  one  piece.  Few  of  these  one- 
piece  coverlets  were  woven  in  Indiana ;  it  is  probable  that  most 
of  those  now  in  Indiana  came  from  Pennsylvania  or  Ohio,  where 
many  such  skilled  weavers  abounded. 

The  "double  coverlet"  had,  usually,  borders  along  the  two 
sides,  and  across  the  lower  end.  The  reason  for  not  weaving  a 
border  across  the  top  is  evident — pillows  covered  this  end  of 
the  coverlet.  These  coverlets  overhung  the  high  "poster"  bed, 
and  the  end  came  out  under  the  turned  or  straight  piece  at  the 
foot  which  usually  connected  the  two  posts.  It  was  a  pretty 
fancy  of  the  weavers  to  make  this  lower  border  different  from 
the  two  sides,  and  one  rarely  finds  a  coverlet  with  the  three 
borders  alike.  In  the  corners  of  this  lower  border,  the  weaver 
sometimes  wove  his  "trade-mark,"  a  subject  which  will  be  dis- 
cussed later. 

On  the  occasion  of  a  visit  to  the  Fountain  County,  Indiana, 
home  of  the  LaTourettes,  the  description  of  weaving  on  the 
"double"  coverlet  loom  was  given  the  writer  some  years  ago  by 
Captain  Schuyler  LaTourette,  son  of  the  famous  John  La- 
Tourette,  weaver,  a  sketch  of  whose  life  appears  later  in  this 
pamphlet.2  Captain  LaTourette,  who  died  in  March,  1926,  was 
so  brisk  in  movement  and  so  gay  in  manner  as  to  give  the  im- 
pression of  being  much  younger  than  eighty-eight,  which  age 
he  claimed  at  that  time.  His  French  inheritance  was  evident 
in  every  look,  word,  and  gesture ;  his  intelligence  and  his  inter- 
est in  every  subject  made  his  conversation  delightful.  He 
related  the  history  of  the  family,  showed  us  the  old  family 
Bible  with  the  records,  and  deplored  the  fact  that  his  father  had 
changed  his  name  from  Jean  to  John. 

Captain  LaTourette  did  not  learn  the  art  of  coverlet  weav- 
ing, but  his  brother  Henry,  who  also  lived  in  this  county,  was  an 


2See  post,  p.  419. 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  409 

expert  weaver  who  carried  on  the  business  for  twenty  years. 
He  gave  us  an  elaborate  description  of  the  process,  however ; 
calling  the  making  of  double  coverlets  "division  weaving,"  as 
did  Arthur  Osborn,  a  very  good  descriptive  name.  The  patterns 
were  of  heavy  cardboard  (we  saw  some  later,  looking  much  as 
music  rolls  for  the  pianola  except  that  the  holes  are  much 
larger).  These  patterns  came  in  strips  fifteen  inches  long  and 
three  and  a  half  inches  wide,  and  were  joined  together  to  make 
a  strip  half  the  width  of  one  of  the  strips  that  make  half  a 
finished  coverlet.  These  strips,  numbered  and  joined  together 
by  threads,  turned  on  a  metal  cylinder  and  there  were  needles 
which  fitted  into  the  perforations.  Complicated  as  this  sounds, 
it  is  nothing  to  what  is  to  come.  There  were  linen  threads 
weighted  at  one  end  and  controlled  by  what  he  called  "hand 
holts."  There  were  many  treadles,  and  the  weaver,  who  sat 
before  the  loom,  must  feel  for  the  pedals  with  his  foot,  much 
as  does  the  performer  on  the  pipe  organ,  throw  the  shuttle, 
reach  up  without  looking  to  catch  the  proper  one  of  the  many 
"hand  holts,"  release  it,  catch  the  returning  shuttle,  and  so  on. 
The  more  I  heard  the  process  described,  the  less  I  understood 
it,  but  nevertheless  it  was  interesting  to  hear  Mr.  LaTourette 
describe  his  father's  skill  in  weaving,  how  he  could  throw  the 
shuttle  so  fast  that  one  could  hardly  see  it,  how  he  and  his 
daughter  could  reach  up  without  looking  and  unerringly  take 
the  proper  "hand  holt,"  and  how  much  he  enjoyed  standing 
by  and  seeing  the  pattern  reveal  itself  as  the  fabric  grew. 

"If  I  could  see  a  loom,  perhaps  I  could  have  a  better  idea  of 
how  it  was  all  done,"  I  said  to  Mr.  Fred  LaTourette,  a  nephew. 
"What  is  left  of  the  old  loom  is  out  here,"  he  said,  and  took  me 
out  to  where  he  had  dragged  out  the  loom  just  before  the 
original  log  house,  used  as  a  loom  house,  had  fallen  to  ruin. 
We  looked  with  awe  at  this  old  loom,  to  which  some  of  the 
threads  and  needles  are  still  attached.  Lying  around  it  were 
some  of  the  cardboard  patterns,  which  have  defied  the  weather, 
even  to  the  penciling  which  indicates  their  number. 

Some  of  the  professional  weavers  in  this  and  in  other  states 


410  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 

made  a  practice  of  weaving  on  the  two  lower  corners  of  the 
coverlet,  making  the  device  on  one  corner  right  side  out,  and 
wrong  side  on  the  other,  so  that  whichever  side  of  the  cover 
was  put  "up"  on  the  bed,  the  inscription  might  be  read.  The 
"double"  coverlet  repeats  the  design  on  the  so-called  wrong  side, 
with  colors  reversed.  Sometimes  these  weavers  wove  only  the 
date,  as  "1846,"  in  a  square;  sometimes  they  wove  their  full 
names  and  the  date ;  again,  the  name  or  initials  of  the  owner  of 
the  coverlet,  the  weaver's  name,  place  of  residence,  and  date; 
sometimes  a  design  of  some  sort  and  the  date.  So  far  as  I 
have  been  able  to  learn,  the  suggestion  that  this  device  was  a 
trade-mark,  used  by  the  weaver  to  identify  his  coverlets,  was 
made  for  the  first  time  by  William  Ross  Teel,  of  Indianapolis, 
who  has  a  number  of  rare  hand-woven  coverlets.  Since  Mr. 
Teel  has  made  this  suggestion,  I  have  been  able  to  identify  a 
number  of  trade-marks,  and  thus  to  discover  the  weavers  of 
some  beautiful  coverlets.  Other  trade-marks  still  remain  a 
mystery  to  be  solved  by  some  future  student  of  the  art  of  cover- 
let weaving.  It  has  been  observed  that  sometimes  these 
coverlet  weavers  changed  their  trade-marks,  as  in  the  case  of 
William  Craig,  Sr.,  or  that  some  other  weaver  of  the  same  name 
endeavored,  by  a  different  trade-mark  to  maintain  his  identity, 
as  may  be  the  case  with  F.  A.  Kean.  It  should  be  noted  that 
some  professional  coverlet  weavers  never  used  a  name,  date,  or 
emblem  as  a  mark  for  their  work.  I  have  never  seen  a  coverlet 
of  the  beautiful  "Lover's  Knot"  with  pine  tree  border  pattern, 
a  very  old  Colonial  design  by  the  way,  marked  in  any  way. 

The  student  of  these  trade-marks  will  find  much  to  confuse 
him.  He  must  remember  always  that  the  old  abbreviation  of 
Indiana  was  "la." ;  that  when  William  Craig  wove  "Greens- 
burg,  D.  C.  la."  in  the  corner  of  his  coverlets  he  meant  Decatur 
County,  Indiana ;  that  when  J.  Craig  wove  F.  L.  County,  he 
meant  Floyd  County. 

Some  mystery  surrounds  the  markings  found  on  the  William 
Craig  coverlets,  the  Greensburg  weaver  whose  history  appears 
later  in  this  pamphlet.     It  is  believed  by  some  that  he  did  not 


DOUBLE    COVERLET,     CRAIG    TRADE-MARK 


CRAIG    COVERLET,     DECATUR    COUNTY 
Note    Different    Trade-mark 


GRAHAM    COVERLET,    HENRY    COUNTY 


G1LMORE    COVERLET,    UNION    COUNTY 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  411 

adopt  a  trade-mark  until  later  in  his  career,  and  that  some  of 
his  coverlets  bear  neither  name  nor  emblem,  but  merely  a  date. 
While  the  "crossed  pipes"  has  become  his  familiar  trade-mark, 
and  is  believed  to  have  been  adopted  after  1853,  he,  or  his  son 
William  also  used  a  bell-shaped  flower,  and  a  house  for  trade- 
marks besides  the  frequent  use  of  his  name,  and  the  words 
"Decatur  county,  la."  Favorite  Craig  patterns  help  also  to 
identify  these  coverlets — borders  of  bell-shaped  blossoms,  of 
birds  feeding  their  young,  a  church  with  high  steeple.  Some 
believe  that  the  unmarked  coverlets  were  woven  by  the  younger 
Craig. 

A  coverlet  woven  by  J.  Craig  bears  the  trade-mark,  "J. 
Craig,  2  miles  N.  East  of  Greensburg,  D.  C.  la.,  1854."  Another 
coverlet  marked  J.  Craig  also  bears  the  mark,  " Anderson ville, 
F.  L.  [Floyd]  County,  la."  This  may  have  been  the  same  J. 
Craig  in  another  location. 

David  I.  Graves's  trade-mark  was  a  square  containing  his 
initials  "D.  I.  G."  and  the  date  of  the  weaving.  Sometimes  he 
inserted  the  initials  of  the  owner  of  the  coverlet ;  sometimes 
"Wayne  county."  Samuel  Graham,  of  Newcastle,  marked  his 
coverlets  with  a  queer  sort  of  bird  with  outstretched  wings  and 
the  date;  never  using  his  name.  Joseph  Gilmore,  of  Union 
County,  had  a  little  ship  with  date  below  for  a  trade-mark.  A 
favorite  lower  border  with  him  was  a  row  of  two-story  houses, 
interspersed  with  branching  trees  and  with  a  paling  fence  in 
front.  A  Henry  Adolf  trade-mark  is  "Henry  Adolf,  Hamildon 
county  Indiana,  1851,"  the  misspelling  due,  perhaps,  to  his 
German  pronunciation.  One  of  George  Adolf's  marks  is 
"George  Adolf,  Peace  and  Plenty,  1857." 

According  to  William  R.  Teel,  F.  A.  Kean,  a  coverlet  weaver 
of  Vigo  County,  used  a  trade-mark  with  the  words  "Made  by 
F.  A.  Kean  1838,"  and  in  the  lower  corners  of  the  square,  a  pine 
tree,  with  crosses  between.  Mrs.  Isaac  Daniel,  of  Indianapolis, 
has  a  coverlet  woven  at  Peeden's  Mill  near  Charlestown,  Indi- 
ana, marked  with  a  basket  of  flowers  in  the  center  of  the 
corner  square,  and  below  the  basket  the  words,  "Made  by  F.  A. 


412  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 

Kean,  1846."  This  opens  the  question  as  to  whether  this  was 
the  same  man  who  changed  his  location  or  was  an  itinerant 
weaver,  or  whether  there  were  two  men  of  the  same  name  pur- 
suing the  business  of  coverlet  weaving  in  this  state.  Another 
Kean  coverlet  has  been  reported  which  has  the  date  1846,  and 
the  name  F.  A.  Kean  is  in  the  tapestry  weave,  a  flattened  weave, 
rather  rare  and  very  beautiful. 

Eliza  Calvert  Hall  in  her  Book  of  Hand-woven  Coverlets 
mentions  the  names  of  three  Indiana  professional  weavers  of 
coverlets,  John  LaTourette  (or  rather,  she  gives  the  name  of 
his  daughter,  Sarah,  who  worked  with  him),  Ann  Hay,  and 
John  Getty.  The  last  named  did  not  exist,  as  least  as  a  weaver 
of  coverlets.  Ann  Hay  married  a  man  named  Getty,  and  Mrs. 
Hall  jumped  at  the  conclusion  that  he  was  John  Getty,  of  Lock- 
port,  New  York,  a  coverlet  weaver.  Information  from  her  grand- 
children would  lead  to  the  belief  that  Ann  Hay  was  not  a  weaver 
of  coverlets,  at  all.  With  her  father  and  mother  she  came  direct 
from  Scotland  to  Jefferson  County,  Indiana,  and  settled  near 
the  Carmel  Presbyterian  Church.  She  married  Andrew  Getty 
and  reared  five  children.  After  Mr.  Getty's  death  she  married 
James  Oldfield  and  lived  for  a  short  time  in  Lexington,  Indiana, 
near  Chelsea,  about  one  mile  from  the  Scott  County  line.  Later 
the  house  was  bought  by  Andrew  Getty,  her  grandson.  She  was 
buried  in  the  Carmel  Presbyterian  cemetery  in  Jefferson 
County.  Miss  Getty,  her  granddaughter,  seems  doubtful  that 
her  grandmother  ever  wove  coverlets.  There  were  coverlets  in 
her  possession,  one  dated  1854,  probably  woven  by  some  pro- 
fessional weaver  for  whom  she  had  prepared  the  material.3 

A  study  of  the  art  of  coverlet  weaving  in  this  state  within 
the  past  ten  years,  however,  reveals  the  fact  that  Indiana  has 
had  more  than  forty  coverlet  weavers  whose  names  and  in  some 
cases  complete  histories  have  been  discovered.  These  names 
and  histories  follow,  together  with  an  account  of  coverlet  weav- 


3Notes  concerning  Ann  Hay  were  furnished  by  Miss  Permelia  Boyd, 
of  Scott  County. 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  413 

ing  in  Switzerland  County,  Indiana,  prepared  by  Mrs.  A.  V. 
Danner,  of  Vevay. 

WILLIAM  CRAIG 

The  story  of  William  Craig,  coverlet  weaver,  comes  from 
his  granddaughter,  Mrs.  Rena  Craig  Gilchrist,4  of  Greensburg, 
who  writes : 

Many  homes  in  Decatur,  Rush,  Shelby,  and  adjoining  counties  have 
one,  two  or  more  double  coverlets  which  are  heirlooms.  Not  many 
know  the  history  of  an  industry  which  gave  occupation  and  livelihood 
to  the  few  who  knew  the  process  by  which  these  valuable  and  beautiful 
bedspreads  were  produced.  They  only  know  that  in  some  way  they 
possess  rare  and  intricate  patterns  in  their  spreads ;  that  they  seem 
to  be  everlasting  in  their  durability  of  color  and  texture;  and  some 
properly  value  them  as  relics,  which,  if  lost,  can  never  be  replaced,  as 
double  coverlet  weaving  is  a  lost  art.  The  looms  were  intricate  and 
differed  from  other  looms,  and  have  all  been  destroyed.  Many  of  the 
patterns  have  been  preserved,  but  are  entirely  beyond  the  comprehension 
of  those  now  living,  and  with  the  passing  of  a  very  few  of  the  older 
people  of  our  community,  no  one  will  be  left  who  ever  saw  them  woven. 

William  Craig,  Sr.,  a  Scotchman  born  in  Kilmarnock  in  1800,  came 
to  America  in  1820,  landing  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  In  1821  he 
was  joined  by  some  of  his  brothers  and  sisters  and  several  members  of  a 
family  of  his  friends  named  Gilchrist :  One  of  these,  Jane  Gilchrist,  was 
his  sweetheart,  and  they  were  married  as  soon  as  she  landed.  Two  of 
the  Gilchrists  were  weavers.  All  were  young,  and  there  were  only  two 
married  couples  in  the  company;  these  made  homes  for  the  others  and 
the  closest  friendships  always  existed  among  them.  They  brought  with 
them  looms  and  necessary  equipment  for  weaving. 

We  will  not  dwell  upon  the  years  intervening  between  their  landing 
and  1832,  when  all  but  one  family  reached  Mt.  Carmel,  Indiana,  except 
to  say  that  William  Craig,  Sr.,  was  foreman  in  a  large  eastern  cotton 
goods  factory  during  that  time.  There  was  some  weaving  done  in  Mt. 
Carmel,  but  the  people  were  all  busy  for  some  years  in  clearing  their 
land  and  building  houses,  using  their  spare  time  in  weaving,  yet  there 
were  homes  well  supplied  with  the  beautiful  covers.  Farmers  kept 
sheep,  clipped  wool,  washed  and  dyed  it,  then  took  it  with  a  cotton  warp 
to  the  weaver.  They  were  the  cheapest  bedclothes  they  could  get,  be- 
sides being  the  most  beautiful  outside  covers. 

At  the  weaver's,  the  yarn  was  spooled  and  carefully  "set  up"  and  tied 
into  the  loom.  This,  we  remember,  was  the  most  particular  part  of  the 
process.     The  patterns  must  be  copied  exactly,  the  knots  tied  with  speed, 

4Mrs.  Gilchrist  is  the  only  surviving  child  of  William  Craig,  Jr.  In 
preparing  this  article  she  was  assisted  by  John  M.  Craig,  and  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Craig  Perry,  only  surviving  children  of  James  Craig,  and 
Mrs.  Jennie  Reeves  Moore,  only  surviving  child  of  Jane  Craig  Reeves, 
all  grandchildren  of  William  Craig,  Sr.,  all  living  in  Greensburg.  All, 
says  Mrs.  Gilchrist,  have  seen  and  known  personally  of  the  double 
coverlet  weaving. 


414  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 


security,  flatness,  and  precision;  hence,  the  weaver's  knot  was  always 
used.  If  the  thread  broke  or  the  slightest  imperfection  appeared,  it  was 
darned  so  that  an  expert  could  not  detect  it. 

In  1838  William  Craig,  Sr.,  brought  his  family  to  Decatur  County, 
locating  on  a  farm  three  and  a  half  miles  northeast  of  Greensburg,  and 
there  again  set  up  his  loom  and  was  assisted  in  spare  time  in  weaving  by 
his  two  sons,  James  and  William,  Jr.  The  father  spent  much  time  on 
the  loom  until  after  the  Civil  War.  James  married  in  1846  and  lived  in 
Anderson  for  eight  years  as  a  weaver,  supplying  the  adjoining  community 
with  these  popular  spreads.  William,  Jr.,  married  in  1845  and  located 
his  home  and  shop  in  Greensburg  where,  for  eight  years,  he  kept  at  the 
loom  constantly. 

Coverlet  weaving  became  a  large  industry.  People  drove  in  farm 
wagons  fifty  and  sixty  miles,  often  bringing  material  for  enough  cover- 
lets to  supply  each  child  at  marriage,  always  leaving  some  in  the  home. 
Often  after  show  days  and  big  campaign  days  the  shop  was  filled  and  the 
weaver  had  all  he  could  weave  in  six  months. 

In  1853  William,  Jr.,  exchanged  with  his  father,  he  taking  the  farm, 
his  father  taking  the  shop,  and  until  William,  Sr.,  retired,  the  demand 
for  coverlets  continued.  He  later  moved  to  Milford  or  Clifty,  where  he 
died  in  1880.  When  the  looms  were  taken  down  and  stored  they  soon 
became  junk,  and  there  is  nothing  left  of  them. 

William  Craig,  Sr.,  was  a  cousin  of  Matthew  Young  and  James 
Craig,  of  Canton,  Indiana,  who  wove  extensively  in  that  part  of  the  state. 
It  is  no  wonder  that  these  beautiful  pieces  are  found  all  over  the  world, 
when  they  were  for  many  years  a  necessary  part  of  a  child's  dowry  and 
have  never  been  known  to  wear  out. 


JAMES  CRAIG 

The  following  account  of  James  Craig  is  furnished  by  C.  L. 
Trueblood,  of  Washington  County,  Indiana. 

My  first  recollection  of  James  Craig,  a  Scotchman  who  was  a 
weaver,  begins  about  1850.  He  was  living  near  my  home  in  Canton, 
Indiana,  and  his  family  and  my  mother  being  on  intimate  terms,  I  had 
frequent  opportunities  to  watch  him  at  his  work,  weaving  coverlets.  He 
had  a  shop  on  the  southeast  corner  of  his  lot,  where  he  dwelt,  facing  on 
the  street.     The  shop  was  used  exclusively  for  the  loom  and  his  work. 

I  was  much  interested  in  watching  his  operation  in  weaving  and  the 
construction  of  the  loom,  which  was  different  from  any  other  loom  I 
have  ever  seen  in  that  the  threads  of  the  warp  were  each  run  through 
a  loop  of  cords  to  which  were  attached  leaden  weights  about  the  size  of 
an  ordinary  lead  pencil,  and  I  should  think  from  twelve  to  fifteen  inches 
in  length.  I  do  not  remember  accurately  about  that.  The  other  end  of 
each  cord  was  attached  to  a  pedal,  of  which  there  was  a  considerable 
number.  A  number  of  cords  may  have  been  attached  to  a  pedal,  accord- 
ing to  the  colors  and  figures  being  used.  This  enabled  him  to  depress 
any  of  the  threads  of  the  warp  that  he  pleased  by  operating  the  pedals 
with  his  feet,  thus  opening  a  space  for  the  passing  of  the  shuttle,  of  which 
he  used  as  many  as  he  wished  colors  in  the  pattern.  By  this  means  he 
was  able  to  expose  or  cover  any  of  the  colors  at  his  pleasure,  thus  being 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  415 


able  to  produce  figures  in  the  proper  colors.  He  sat  on  a  long  bench 
in  front  of  the  loom  so  that  he  could  operate  the  pedals  with  his  feet. 
I  remember  James  Craig  as  a  man  of  medium  weight,  rather  heavy 
for  his  height,  and  I  think  he  had  blue  eyes.  He  was  not  given  to  sport, 
was  rather  of  a  reflective  disposition,  pretty  well  fixed  in  his  opinions, 
and  very  neat  in  his  habits.  His  wife  was  Margaret  Craig.  They  lost 
two  children  by  Asiatic  cholera  in  1852. 

Mrs.  James  Young,  of  Evanston,  Illinois,  writes  of  James 
Craig : 

James  Craig,  coverlet  weaver,  of  Canton,  Indiana,  was  my  father, 
and  Matthew  Young,  also  a  weaver,  was  my  husband's  father.  William 
Craig,  Jr.,  coverlet  weaver,  was  the  son  of  James  Craig.  James  Craig 
was  born  in  Kilmarnock,  Scotland,  June  17,  1819,  one  of  a  family  of  ten 
children.  He  died  in  Brazil,  Indiana,  August  23,  1896.  I  remember  the 
old  loom  very  vividly.  It  was  taken  to  Michigan,  where  we  lived  for  a 
while,  but  never  used,  and  I  suppose  it  went  for  junk  after  father's  death. 

SAMUEL   GRAHAM 

Clarence  H.  Smith,  curator  of  the  Henry  County  Historical 
Museum,  has  furnished  the  following  information  concerning 
the  weaver  Samuel  Graham. 

Samuel  Graham,  the  coverlet  weaver  of  Newcastle,  was  an  English- 
man by  birth,  a  native  of  Lancashire,  coming  to  this  country  from 
Darwen,  a  manufacturing  city,  long  noted  for  its  mills  and  weaving  in- 
dustries, some  eighteen  miles  distant  from  that  busy  metropolis,  Man- 
chester. It  seems  probable  that  he  belonged  to  the  middle  class,  perhaps 
to  a  well-to-do  manufacturing  family.  This  I  infer  from  the  money 
that  came  to  the  family  in  later  years.  He  was  born  on  July  II,  1805, 
and  when  eighteen  years  of  age,  came  to  the  United  States.  Landing  in 
New  York,  he  seems  to  have  stayed  there  or  in  Philadelphia  for  a  short 
time,  and  then  to  have  joined  the  great  stream  of  emigrants  who  were 
moving  to  the  "great  new  west,"  as  the  states  beyond  the  Alleghenies 
were  called  by  the  easterners.  I  wish  we  might  know  what  caused  this 
young  man  to  choose  the  little  county  seat  of  Henry  County,  of  about 
two  hundred  inhabitants,  as  the  place  for  his  abode.  Was  it,  I  wonder,  the 
business  enterprise  of  the  postmaster,  who  was  an  old  Indian  trader,  Isaac 
Bedsaul,  or  that  of  his  newly  arrived  competitor,  Miles  Murphy?  Or 
perhaps  it  was  the  legal  mind  of  Jacob  Thornburg,  or  Samuel  Hoover, 
or  the  deeply  religious  character  of  that  early  Methodist,  Father  Cole- 
man? Or  it  may  have  been  the  untiring  efforts  and  sacrifices  during  the 
dread  scourge  of  cholera  that  year  of  Dr.  Joel  or  Dr.  John  Elliott,  the 
county  clerk,  who  fell  a  victim  to  the  disease  after  caring  for  the  many 
sick,  that  influenced  the  young  artisan  to  stay  in  Newcastle.  I  doubt  not 
at  all  that  these  sterling  citizens  had  an  influence  on  his  choice,  but  I 
would  say  that,  as  usual,  in  the  affairs  of  men,  fate  played  a  part. 

Soon  after  coming  to  Newcastle,  the  young  Englishman,  Graham, 
established  a  loom  for  weaving  coverlets.     His  daughter,  Lucy  Graham 


416  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 

Clark,  of  Dixon,  Illinois,  thinks  that  upon  first  coming  to  the  county,  her 
father  wove  at  the  McAfee-Mowrer  Woolen  Mills  near  Hillsboro,  later 
known  as  the  Blue  River  Woollen  Mills,  although  my  impression  is  that 
these  mills  were  not  in  operation  until  about  1841.  Mr.  Graham  pur- 
chased the  old  log  courthouse,  a  small  two-story  affair,  and  for  some 
years  plied  his  trade  in  the  upper  room.  For  over  twenty  years  he 
carried  on  a  thriving  business  here  and  in  other  locations.  His  reputa- 
tion became  established,  and  many  from  adjoining  counties  brought  their 
wool,  all  cleaned,  carded,  and  ready  to  be  made  into  his  attractive  cover- 
lets. One  of  the  boys  of  that  day  recalls  how,  as  children,  they  used  to 
go  up  and  watch  Mr.  Graham  at  his  loom;  but  he  was  a  dour  English- 
man, stern  and  unapproachable,  and  not  attentive  to  his  children  visitors. 

Probably  at  the  time  he  wove  in  the  old  courthouse,  he  was  living 
at  the  present  corner  of  Walnut  and  Twelfth  streets,  but  more  people 
here  today  remember  him  while  he  resided  at  the  northwest  corner  of 
Walnut  and  Fourteenth,  in  a  house  that  is  still  standing.  In  the  back  part 
of  this,  or  it  may  be  in  a  part  separate  on  Walnut  Street,  Mr.  Graham 
had  his  loom.  Mrs.  Clark  says  that  about  1858  or  1859  Mr.  Graham 
went  to  Cadiz.  I  do  not  know  whether  it  was  before  or  after  his  residence 
there  that  he  moved  on  a  farm  where  he  also  had  a  loom,  located  about 
where  the  Weiland  greenhouses  stand,  near  the  Mahlon  Harvey  place. 

Mr.  Graham  had  a  brother  of  much  wealth  in  England,  who  was 
anxious  for  him  to  return  to  his  native  land.  He  gave  him  a  large  sum 
of  money,  saying  that  he  wanted  his  relatives  to  have  the  good  of  the 
property  during  his  life.  After  his  death,  however,  each  of  the  three 
children  of  Samuel  Graham  received  five  thousand  pounds  from  his 
estate.  This  was  in  1874.  About  1863  Mr.  Graham  took  his  family  to 
England,  where  they  stayed  until  1865  or  1866,  when  they  returned  to 
Newcastle.  Mr.  Graham  did  not  weave  after  his  return.  He  lived  on 
East  Broad  Street,  also  on  the  Boone  Highway,  or  Haguewood  farm,  two 
miles  northeast  of  town.  His  sons  also  bought  large  farms  north  of 
town.  Mr.  Graham  died  in  1871 ;  his  widow  in  1881.  A  granddaughter, 
Mrs.  Asa  Hernly,  is  the  only  descendant  living  in  the  state. 

Mr.  Smith  gives  a  human  touch  to  his  portrait  of  the  "dour 
Englishman"  by  describing  his  fondness  for  the  game  of 
checkers,  to  which  he  gave  much  time,  always  being  able  to 
defeat  his  rivals,  one  of  them  Edmund  Johnson,  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Henry  County  bar.  A  portrait  in  oil  of  Mr. 
Graham,  by  a  contemporary  artist,  hangs  in  the  Henry  County 
Museum. 

JOHN    KLEIN 

A  weaver  named  Klein,  Kline,  or  Cline,  lived  in  Noblesville, 
Hamilton  County,  in  1861.  "J-  Klein,  Hamilton  county,  Indi- 
ana— 1859"  is  one  of  his  woven  marks.  Mr.  J.  F.  Kline,  of 
Noblesville,  son  of  the  weaver,  gives  his  father's  name  as  Klein, 
stating : 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  417 

The  Klein  mentioned  by  Madge  Demerit,  of  Connersville,  was  John 
Klein  who  came  to  Hamilton  County  in  the  early  fifties  and  established 
his  coverlet  loom  in  the  home  of  Martin  Forrer,  about  three  miles  south- 
east of  Noblesville,  where  he  received  the  wool  direct  from  the  farmers 
and  put  it  through  the  different  processes  of  manufacture  by  hand  and 
returned  to  them  the  finished  product.  He  was  an  expert  in  making 
fast-color  dyes  as  proved  by  the  present  condition  of  his  handiwork.  He 
continued  weaving  at  this  place  until  1857  when  he  married  Lydia  Heiny, 
of  Clarksville,  and  moved  to  Noblesville  and  continued  weaving  in  his 
house  until  1861.  At  this  time  he  and  his  brother  purchased  a  woolen  mill 
located  at  the  corner  of  Conner  and  Sixth  streets  in  this  city,  where  now 
stands  a  flour  mill.  He  moved  his  loom  to  the  third  floor  of  the 
building.  This  mill  and  contents  were  destroyed  by  fire  about  1864. 
There  are  a  great  many  of  these  coverlets  in  Hamilton  County,  and 
adjoining  counties  to  my  knowledge,  as  I  have  investigated  in  my 
effort  to  procure  some  of  them,  but  have  been  unsuccessful  so  far.  He 
always  wove  his  name  and  the  date  in  the  corner  of  the  coverlets.  Being 
his  son,  I  am  greatly  interested  in  this  matter  and  would  greatly 
appreciate  any  assistance  in  procuring  a  specimen  of  his  handiwork. 
When  a  child,  I  spent  many  hours  watching  him  weave,  and  in  winding 
bobbins   for  him. 

JOHN    MUIR 

John  Muir,  a  weaver  of  coverlets,  ingrain  carpets,  silk  plaids, 
and  Paisley  shawls,  was  born  December  4,  1812  in  Kilmarnock, 
Ayrshire,  Scotland.  His  father,  Thomas  Muir,  weaver,  was 
born  near  Glasgow,  Scotland.  John  was  well  educated  in  the 
parish  schools,  and  at  the  age  of  twelve  years  applied  himself  to 
the  loom.  In  1834  Mr.  Muir  was  married  to  Harriet  P.  Gil- 
christ, who  was  born  July  8,  1812.  Kilmarnock  was  their  home 
city  and  here  he  worked  at  his  loom  almost  seven  years.  On 
May  15,  1841  they  and  their  four  children  set  sail  from  Glasgow 
in  the  American  vessel  "Oglethorpe"  and  landed  in  New  York 
on  August  3,  having  been  on  the  water  seventy-eight  days. 
They  stayed  in  New  York  three  days  to  buy  some  necessary 
equipment  for  weaving,  then  went  by  rail  to  Pittsburgh,  by  boat 
to  Cincinnati,  and  by  wagon  to  Germantown,  Ohio,  remaining 
there  until  February  18,.  1842  when  they  continued  on  their 
journey,  driving  on  to  Richmond,  Indiana,  thence  to  Indian- 
apolis, arriving  at  Greencastle  in  February,  1843.  Mr.  Muir  set 
up  his  loom  at  Greencastle  and  wove  coverlets  and  carpets,  but 
soon  afterward  he  moved  to  a  small  tract  of  land  on  the  Dan- 
ville road  about  five  miles  east  of  Greencastle.     Here  his  home 


418  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 

and  household  goods  were  destroyed  by  fire,  but  he  saved  the 
material  that  his  patrons  had  brought  him  to  be  woven  into 
coverlets,  there  being  enough  to  keep  his  loom  going  for  one 
year.  He  then  located  at  Filmore  and  continued  his  weaving 
until  1859  when  he  moved  to  Parke  County,  locating  about 
three  miles  southeast  of  Mansfield.  Here  he  bought  520  acres 
of  land  and  remained  until  his  death,  June  23,  1892. 

One  of  his  brothers,  William  Muir,  came  from  Scotland  to 
Indianapolis  at  an  earlier  date  and  wove  coverlets,  but  later  went 
to  the  south  part  of  Clay  County  and  bought  several  acres  of 
land  in  the  Eel  River  bottom.  One  of  his  daughters,  Mrs. 
Viola  Peavey,  lives  at  Clay  City.  John  Muir's  son  James  helped 
his  father  weave  in  later  years.  James  was  born  in  Scotland, 
December  29,  1840,  and  died  in  Indianapolis  June  25,  1921. 
Two  other  sons — Thomas,  who  was  born  in  Scotland,  and 
William,  the  first  child  born  in  America — were  soldiers  in  the 
Union  army  during  the  Civil  War.5 

WILLIAM   MUIR 

The  following  information  about  William  Muir  was  given 
by  George  Branson,  of  Brazil,  Indiana.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
{he  account  differs  in  some  details  from  the  above  information 
given  by  members  of  the  Muir  family. 

William  Muir  was  born  March  g,  1818,  at  Kilmarnock,  Ayrshire, 
Scotland.  .  His  father,  Thomas  Muir,  was  a  weaver  and  when  William 
was  six  years  old,  he  was  apprenticed  as  a  draw  boy  and  later  he 
was  placed  at  the  loom  and  taught  to  weave  silk  fabrics,  and  later  to 
weave  Paisley  shawls  and  coverlets.  In  1836  he  came  to  America, 
landing  at  New  York  after  a  stormy  voyage  of  sixty-five  days.  He 
came  to  Germantown,  Wayne  County,  Indiana,  where  his  brother,  John 
Muir,  resided  and  continued  weaving.  In  1842,  he  moved  to  Indianapolis, 
where  he  operated  three  looms  for  a  period  of  eight  years.  While  in 
Indianapolis,  he  exchanged  some  unprofitable  railroad  stock  for  a 
tract  of  land  in  the  south  part  of  Clay  County  and  by  purchasing 
adjacent  tracts  became  one  of  the  largest  land  holders  in  the  county. 
A  beautiful  lake  near  this  tract  of  land  is  known  as  Muir's  lake. 


5For  most  of  this  history  of  John  Muir,  the  writer  is  indebted  to 
his  two  grandsons,  Elmer  Muir,  of  Parke  County,  and  Charles  Muir, 
of  Indianapolis.  Mr.  Muir  wove  many  coverlets  in  Parke  County,  his 
patrons  coming  from  an  extensive  territory,  and  bringing  their  material 
ready  for  the  loom. 


MUIR    COVERLET,    CLAY    COUNTY 


DOUBLE    COVERLET,    WEAVER    UNKNOWN 
Owned    by   Mrs.   Ann   Mayer,    Indianapolis 


"^■■v.  *••■---'- --—"■    /-'.  ...  .\'V- 


SEAMLESS    DOUBLE     COVERLET,    SO-CALLED    COLONIAL    PATTERN 


SEAMLESS    DOUBLE    COVERLET,    WILD    TURKEY    CORNER    DESIGN 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  419 


According  to  his  daughter,  his  only  schooling  was  in  night  schools, 
but  he  was  really  a  well  educated  man.  He  carried  the  brand  of  his 
early  work  at  the  looms,  for  the  tendons  of  both  of  his  little  fingers 
were  severed,  causing  his  fingers  to  be  deformed.  The  four  brothers, 
Robert,  William,  John,  and  Thomas,  worked  at  the  looms  together  for 
some  time.  William  Muir  said  once  that  their  work  was  promised 
ahead  as  far  as  three  years,  and  that  they  sat  at  the  looms  for  hours 
without  sleep,  except  as  they  dropped  their  heads  on  the  looms  for  a 
few  minutes  at  a  time  for  a  nap,  this,  in  order  to  get  their  work  out 
at  the  time  it  was  promised. 


JOHN   LA  TOURETTE 

Among  the  professional  coverlet  weavers  in  Indiana,  the  best 
known  was  John  S.  LaTourette,  of  Fountain  County,  and  his 
daughter  Sarah,  who  were  widely  known  for  the  beauty  and 
perfection  of  their  work.6  A  branch  of  this  family  came  to 
America  and  settled  on  Staten  Island  in  1773.  John,  a  son  of 
the  emigrant,  came  out  to  Ohio  in  1820,  and  to  Fountain  County, 
Indiana,  in  1826.  The  family  had  been  weavers  in  France,  and 
brought  the  art  with  them  to  the  new  world.  John  LaTourette 
bought  land  on  Graham's  Creek,  Fountain  County,  and  built  a 
log  cabin  near  the  creek  in  1826.  In  1839  he  built  a  brick  house 
on  the  hill  above  the  creek,  a  mansion  in  its  day,  with  central 
hall,  wide  fireplaces,  panelled  woodwork,  no  two  floors  on  the 
same  level.  The  brick  for  this  house  was  made  on  the  place: 
the  surface  soil  was  taken  off,  the  clay  dug  and  moistened  with 
water  from  Graham's  creek  and  trampled  by  oxen  to  the  proper 
consistency.  When  the  house  was  complete,  the  log  cabin  was 
brought  up  the  hill  and  set  beside  the  house  for  use  as  a  loom 
house.  A  grandson,  Fred  LaTourette,  lives  in  the  house  and 
his  uncle,  Captain  Schuyler  LaTourette,  lived  in  a  house  nearby 
until  his  death  in  1926,  when  past  ninety. 

FRANCIS  KEAN 

Francis  A.  Kean  lived  and  wove  his  coverlets  about  four 
miles  east  of  Terre  Haute  on  the  National  Road  on  what  is 
known  as  the  Kean  farm,  now  the  Catholic  cemetery.    Some  of 


6 See  ante,  pp.  408-9. 


420  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 

his  coverlet  dates  are  1838,   1844,   1851,  according  to  W.  R. 
Teel,  of  Indianapolis. 

Mrs.  Isaac  Daniel,  of  Indianapolis,  describes  a  beautiful 
double  coverlet  in  her  possession  made  at  Peeden's  Mill  on  the 
Charlestown-Henryville  road  about  five  miles  north  of  Charles- 
town,  Indiana.  Each  corner  has  an  eight  inch  square  with  a 
basket  of  flowers  in  the  center,  and  above  the  basket  the  words, 
"made  by  F.  A.  Kean,"  and  under  the  basket  the  date  1846. 
"We  do  not  know,"  says  Mrs.  Daniel,  "whether  F.  A.  Kean 
worked  for  Peeden  or  whether  he  was  Peeden's  successor." 
The  question  arises  as  to  whether  this  was  the  Terre  Haute 
Kean,  who  had  a  different  trade-mark,  or  another  Kean  of  the 
same  name. 

HUGH    GILCHRIST 

Hugh  Gilchrist,  born  in  Kilmarnock,  Scotland,  October  24, 
1824,  came  to  the  United  States  at  the  age  of  twenty-two.  He 
had  learned  the  art  of  weaving  in  Scotland.  Coming  to  Franklin 
County,  Indiana,  near  Mt.  Carmel,  he  and  his  brother  entered 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  and  on  this  farm  built  their  loom 
house  of  logs,  a  building  sixteen  feet  high,  for  the  loom.  He 
later  moved  to  Decatur  County,  where  he  died.  William  Craig, 
the  weaver,  married  Gilchrist's  sister.  These  notes  were  given 
by  the  late  George  Gilchrist,  of  Indianapolis,  the  weaver's  son. 

DAVID  GRAVES 

David  I.  Graves  is  remembered  by  John  Edwards,  who  lives 
near  Monrovia.  Mr.  Edwards  recalls  the  day  of  the  carding 
factory,  which  superseded  the  pioneer  housewife's  carding  of 
the  wool.  As  a  boy  he  worked  in  this  factory  and  recalls  the 
various  steps  in  the  process  of  making  the  wool  into  the  rolls 
from  which  the  housewife  spun  the  woolen  thread.  The  thread, 
spun  and  dyed,  was  taken  to  the  weaver,  Graves,  whose  loom 
was  in  the  top  of  the  two-story  mill.  Mr.  Edwards  recalls  the 
lead  weights  which  hung  to  the  cords  of  the  loom.  David 
Graves  came,  he  thinks,  from  Richmond  to  Morgan  County,  and 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  421 

was  considered  a  fine  weaver.  His  coverlets  were  usually 
marked  with  his  initials,  "D.  I.  G."  One  of  the  handsomest 
coverlets  in  Henry  County  bears  in  the  corners  the  letters  "E. 
S."  Below  that,  "by  D.  I.  G.,"  and  the  date  1839.  This  was 
given  by  David  Hoover,  pioneer  settler  of  Richmond,  as  a 
wedding  present  to  his  daughter  Esther,  who  married  Henry 
Shroyer.  The  date  on  the  coverlet  is  therefore  the  date  of  her 
marriage.  The  coverlet  has  the  "goldfinch  border" — in  each 
square  of  the  border,  perched  on  twigs,  are  two  small  white  or 
light  colored  birds,  with  dark  wings,  facing  each  other. 

GABRIEL  GILMORE 

W.  E.  Crawford,  of  Union  County,  Indiana,  writes  of 
Gabriel  Gilmore: 

Reverend  Archibald  Craig  came  to  this  country  from  Scotland  in 
1820  and  settled  in  South  Carolina.  With  him  came  his  daughter  Janet 
and  her  husband,  Gabriel  Gilmore.  In  1826  the  Reverend  Craig  with 
Mr.  Gilmore  came  to  Mt.  Carmel,  where  the  former  became  pastor  of 
the  Presbyterian  church  there.  Gabriel  Gilmore  had  been  a  weaver  in 
Scotland,  as  were  also  his  three  brothers,  William,  Joseph,  and  Thomas, 
who  came  to  this  country  either  with  Gabriel  or  later.  The  four 
brothers  bought  a  farm  two  miles  west  of  Dunlapsville,  Union  County, 
Indiana,  and  built  two  dwelling  houses  and  a  two-story,  hewed  log 
loom  house,  where  they  set  up  their  looms  and  patterns,  said  to  have 
been  brought  from  New  Haven,  Connecticut.  Later,  Joseph  moved  to 
Missouri,  and  Gabriel  and  Thomas  moved  to  Decatur  County,  Indiana, 
about  1858.  William  moved  to  Oskaloosa,  Iowa,  taking  the  looms  with 
him,  but  they  were  never  used  after  reaching  there. 

ROBERT  MILLER   [MILTON?] 

Robert  Miller  [Milton?],  a  coverlet  weaver,  came  to  Salem, 
Indiana,  about  1857  or  1858  to  work  in  the  woolen  mill  of 
Campbell,  Allen  &  Company.  He  had  a  loom  built  on  the 
corner  of  Market  and  Mill  streets  on  the  property  of  Joseph 
Allen,  one  of  the  owners  of  the  mill.  He  sent  to  England  for 
his  loom.  He  made  a  business  of  weaving  coverlets  in  one 
piece,  no  seams.  These  were  mostly  blue  and  white.  A  beauti- 
ful coverlet  of  his  weaving  is  owned  by  Mrs.  Earl  Adams,  given 
to   Earl   Adams  by  his  grandmother,   Mrs.   Lucinda   Conner. 


422  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 

Robert  Miller  boarded  with  Mrs.  Conner's  mother,  and  not 
being  able  to  pay  his  board,  gave  her  two  coverlets  valued  at 
that  time  at  ten  dollars  each.  Mrs.  Conner  says  that  Robert 
Miller  was  about  five  feet  tall,  very  broad  shouldered,  and  had 
a  very  dark  complexion.  He  left  Salem  about  the  time  of  the 
Civil  War  and  nothing  is  known  of  him  after  that  time. 

JAMES    MCKINNEY 

Franklin  County  in  its  pioneer  days  had  a  coverlet  weaver 
known  as  "Uncle  Jimmy"  McKinney.  He  lived  up  the  West 
Fork  of  Whitewater  about  three  miles,  in  what  in  that  early 
day  was  known  as  "the  Carolina  Settlement."  He  was  a  Scotch- 
man and  both  he  and  his  family  were  somewhat  above  the 
average  in  education  and  general  intelligence.  His  daughter, 
Mary,  known  as  Polly,  married  Graem  Hanna,  one  of  the  most 
prominent  young  men  of  that  period  (1815).  His  sons,  James 
and  John  T.  McKinney,  became  prominent  attorneys,  the  latter 
dying  while  judge,  in  the  year  1837.  His  remains  lie  in  an  old 
cemetery  in  the  north  end  of  Brookville.  There  are  none  left 
of  this  name,  but  grandchildren  of  Mary  McKinney  are,  a  few 
of  them,  near  the  old  settlement.  The  Graem  homestead  is 
still  in  the  family  name. 

Mrs.  S.  S.  Harrell,  of  Brookville,  has  in  her  possession  two 
handsome  double  coverlets  of  this  Scotch  weaver's  workman- 
ship, but  has  reason  to  believe  that  there  are  few  of  them  left 
in  the  country. 

CHARLES    ADOLPH 

From  Clarence  H.  Smith  we  have  the  following  information : 

Looking  through  the  original  files  of  the  census  enumeration  taken 
in  Henry  County  in  i860,  and  in  Liberty  Township,  postoffice,  Mill- 
ville,  which  is  about  six  miles  east  of  Newcastle,  I  found  the  name 
Charles  Adolph,  aged  35,  occupation  "weaver."     Place  of  birth,  France. 

Value   of   real   estate  ;   value   of   personal   property,   $100.     Other 

members  of  the  household  were  Emerance  (presumably  the  wife)  aged 
37,  born  in  Wurtemburg,  Ger.,  and  children  all  born  in  Indiana. 
Catherine,  aged  11  years;  George,  aged  9  years;  Pheba,  aged  8  years; 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  423 


Mary,  aged  4  years ;  Elizabeth,  aged  4  years ;  Jacob,  aged  2  years ;  and 
Nancy,  aged  one  year.  There  is  a  coverlet  in  the  county  which  has 
woven  in  the  corner,  "Charles  Adolph,  Henry  County,  Indiana,   1857." 


JOHN  WHISLER 

John  Whisler  had  a  loom  at  Milton.  He  came  to  Milton  in 
1826  from  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  and  lived  on  a  farm  south 
of  Milton.  He  followed  his  vocation  of  weaving  coverlets  and 
seamless  grain  bags ;  about  1843  he  moved  to  Milton  where  he 
continued  his  work  until  cotton  advanced  and  such  work  was 
no  longer  profitable.  Mrs.  L.  P.  Zeller,  of  Milton,  formerly 
Emma  Wilson,  a  granddaughter  of  John  Whisler,  says  that 
she  can  remember  when  he  wove  coverlets.  When  he  stopped 
weaving  coverlets,  he  turned  his  attention  to  weaving  rag 
carpets  and  rugs.  Mrs.  Zeller  has  a  part  of  a  rag  carpet 
he  wove  many  years  ago.  He  has  one  son,  Sanford 
Whisler,  the  last  of  the  family,  now  past  eighty-six  years  old, 
living  in  Milton. 

Mrs.  Edgar  R.  Beeson,  of  Milton,  Whisler's  great-grand- 
daughter, says  that  her  grandfather  wove  into  the  two  lower 
corners  of  his  coverlets  his  name,  John  Wissler,  Wayne  county, 
and  the  date.  At  first,  he  spelled  his  name  in  the  German 
fashion,  but  in  1840,  he  changed  it  to  Whisler  to  conform  to  the 
usage  of  his  Indiana  relatives. 

OTHER   WEAVERS 

Henry  Adolf,  of  Hamilton  County,  who  misspelt  it  "Hamil- 
don,"  in  his  trade-mark,  is  said  to  have  been  an  employe  of  John 
Whisler  of  Milton,  Indiana. 

John  Marr  and  John  Snyder  also  are  said  to  be  employes 
of  Whisler. 

Peter  Lorenz,  Wayne  County.  A  coverlet  made  by  Henry 
Adolf  and  Peter  Lorenz,  of  Wayne  County,  is  owned  by  Edward 
Hatfield,  of  Brookville,  Indiana. 


424  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 

William  Hicks  was  a  weaver  in  Madison  County  on  Kil- 
buck  Creek,  in  the  fifties. 

William  Kerns  was  a  weaver  in  Parke  County,  near  Leather- 
wood  Creek,  where  it  crosses  the  Rockville-Montezuma  road, 
about  seventy-five  years  ago,  according  to  George  Branson,  of 
Brazil,  Indiana. 

A  coverlet  in  the  Northern  Indiana  Historical  Museum  has 
woven  in  the  lower  corner,  "South  Bend,  1846."  The  weaver 
is  unknown,  but  the  wool  was  spun  by  Mrs.  Peter  Ballenger,  ac- 
cording to  a  note  attached  to  the  coverlet. 

Vogel,  a  German  weaver  of  coverlets,  unmarried,  lived  in 
a  two-story  building  on  South  Washington  Street,  in  Crawfords- 
ville  about  1846-47. 

The  name  is  given  of  a  weaver,  Ballentyne,  date  1849.  The 
coverlet  is  owned  in  Delphi,  Indiana,  but  the  origin  of  the 
weaver  is  unknown. 

Bissett,  Franklin,  Indiana. 

John  and  Damus  Huber,  living  near  New  Alsace  in  Dear- 
born County.  Indiana,  1840-50,  are  names  given  by  W.  D. 
Robinson. 

Joseph  Nurre  [Dearborn  County,  1850?]. 

Schrontz,  Dearborn  County. 

Ritchie  Thompson,  Brownsville,  1834. 
William  Fairbrothers,  of  Henry  County. 
J.  Craig,  of  Andersonville,  Floyd  County. 
Samuel  Stinger,  of  Carthage,  Rush  County. 
John  Striebig,  1834,  Wayne  County. 

Henry  Wilson,  1852,  who  lived  near  New  Winchester, 
Hendricks  County. 

Accounts  of  the  professional  weavers,  Thomas  Cranston, 
George  Simpson,  and  James  Baird  are  included  in  the  following 
sketch  of  Switzerland  County  weavers. 

Weavers  mentioned,  but  not  included  in  headings  on  earlier 
pages,  are :  Matthew  Young,  in  the  sketches  of  William  and 
James  Craig  on  pages  414  and  415;  George  Adolph,  on  page 
411  ;  the  Gilmore  brothers,  Joseph,  William,  and  Thomas,  on 
page  421  ;  and  Henry  La  Tourette,  on  page  408. 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  425 

Coverlet  Weaving  in  Switzerland  County 

By 
Mrs.  A.  V.   Danner,  Vevay 

The  art  of  Coverlet  weaving  was  brought  to  Switzerland 
County,  Indiana,  by  the  Scotch  and  Irish  immigrants  as  early 
as  1815.  The  oldest  example  of  their  art  that  the  writer  has  had 
the  pleasure  of  examining  is  the  Cowan  coverlet,  rose  and  blue 
in  color  and  the  pattern  of  the  "door  and  window"  design.  It 
was  in  1815  that  Donald  Cowan  and  his  bride,  Jennie  Ewing, 
left  the  "Auld  Countree"  and  sailed  seven  long  weary  weeks 
in  an  old  schooner  across  the  seas.  We  hear  that  they  were 
seasick  and  homesick,  but  they  never  faltered  as  the  long  miles 
by  land,  over  mountain  and  down  the  mighty  river,  were  slowly 
traveled,  until  they  reached  Craig  Township,  Switzerland 
County,  Indiana,  about  six  miles  back  from  the  river  on  Long 
Run  Creek.  There  they  gathered  the  limestone  from  the  creek 
and  hillside  and  built  a  limestone  house.  No  attempt  was  made 
in  these  houses  to  dress  the  stone,  which  was  laid  up  in  a  rough 
but  artistic  wall,  often  two  feet  thick,  with  large  stone  chimneys 
and  fire  places  as  large  as  a  modern  kitchenette,  a  fortress  for 
defence  and  an  advance  in  architecture  over  the  log  cabin. 
This  house  and  many  more  of  its  time  and  style  are  now  in  a 
good  state  of  preservation.  Donald  raised  sheep  and  Jennie 
set  up  her  loom.  Together  they  went  into  the  primeval  forest 
and  gathered  the  barks  and  herbs  for  her  dyes,  for  she  wove 
the  Scotch  tartan,  flannels  with  graduated  stripes,  to  clothe  the 
family.  The  hickory  bark,  walnut  bark,  white  ash  and  black 
oak,  maple  and  red  oak,  yielded  different  color  dyes  and  lark- 
spur, bloodroot,  poke  root,  burdock  and  the  flowers  from  black- 
eyed-Susan,  were  dye-yielding  herbs.  So  that  in  every  sense 
the  Cowan  coverlet  is  a  Switzerland  County  home  product,  made 
in  1820  and  now  owned  by  a  granddaughter,  Mrs.  Emma 
Ramseyer,  of  Vevay. 

Henry  and  Ann  (Chambers)  Andrews,  from  Ireland,  came 
to  Switzerland  County  in  1820  with  their  young  widowed  daugh- 


426  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 

ter,  Mrs.  Susan  Betts.  She,  too,  lived  in  a  limestone  house  on 
the  Fairview  Pike,  Jefferson  Township.  She  delighted  in 
weaving  Irish  linen  sheets  and  plaid  blankets,  also  coverlets 
in  blue  and  white  and  Irish  rose  color.  One  of  her  coverlets  is 
a  "Whig  rose"  pattern  in  blue  and  white,  another  a  honeycomb 
in  blue  and  white  with  a  rose  frame,  a  very  dainty  pattern  and 
the  colors  are  still  deep  and  clear,  neither  is  there  a  mistake  in 
these  intricate  patterns,  woven  by  count  of  thread  and  the  beat 
of  a  common  loom.  These  coverlets  are  owned  by  her  family. 
She  later  married  Mr.  Nash  and  a  treasured  bit  of  linen  of  her 
weaving  was  made  into  a  sampler  by  her  step-daughter,  who 
embroidered  the  alphabet  and  numerals  in  cross-stitch  with 
brown  thread,  and  below,  her  name  "Matilda  Nash,  1838."  This 
sampler  and  the  "Whig  rose"  coverlet  are  owned  by  the  writer. 
Mrs.  Susan  Nash  died  in  1876. 

"Away  down  in  Craig  Township,"  eighty  years  ago,  Naomi 
Bray  was  weaving  a  "lover's  knot"  coverlet  in  blue  and  white, 
verily  a  maiden's  dream,  for  the  next  year  she  married  Mr. 
Wiseman.  This  is  the  only  coverlet  she  made  and  when  asked 
why  she  did  not  weave  another,  she  replied  that  she  had  too 
many  housewife's  cares  and  different  things  to  distract  her 
mind  from  count  and  beat  of  the  pattern,  for  the  weaver  must 
keep  her  mind  on  the  work  incessantly  until  it  is  finished  when 
weaving  on  a  common  loom.  However,  she  did  weave  plaid 
flannels  and  many  yards  of  jeans.  Her  daughter,  who  owns 
the  coverlet,  said,  "I  used  to  help  my  mother  thread  the  loom, 
the  chain  was  doubled  and  twisted  on  the  big  wheel,  then 
bleached  and  spooled,  put  on  the  warping  bars,  taken  off  in 
loops  and  laid  on,  so  many  yards  on  the  beam  of  the  loom, 
unwound  through  the  gears,  the  reeds  and  the  temples  to  keep 
it  straight,  for  it  was  a  difficult  task  to  keep  the  selvage  even." 
This  loom  was  later  sold  to  a  rag  carpet  weaver. 

Mrs.  Wiseman,  who  was  an  expert  in  the  dyer's  art,  colored 
wool  for  several  coverlets  made  by  the  professional  weaver, 
Thomas  Cranston.  She  set  the  "blue  pot"  with  madder  and 
flour.     The  indigo  was  sewed  up  in  a  flannel  bag  and  put  to 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  427 

soak  in  a  kettle  of  water ;  then  the  indigo  yeast  was  added,  which 
had  been  carefully  saved  from  year  to  year.  It  was  thick  and 
greenish  in  color  when  poured  into  the  new  dye.  This  mixture 
was  kept  warm  day  and  night  on  the  hearth  of  the  old  fire  place 
for  four  or  five  days  until  it  was  "ripe."  It  was  then  brought 
to  a  boil  and  the  wool  dipped  and  aired,  and  dipped  and  aired, 
until  it  became  that  deep,  dark,  beautiful  blue  we  see  in  these 
hand-dyed  and  hand-loomed  coverlets. 

She  also  colored  wool  in  scarlet  and  crimson  with  madder. 
The  scarlet  and  white  Cranston  coverlet  in  the  honeysuckle  and 
wreath  pattern  with  a  large  dove  in  each  corner  and  basket  of 
roses  in  the  border  is  as  much  a  tribute  to  her  dyer's  art  as  to 
his  craftsmanship  in  tapestry  weaving.  Mrs.  Wiseman  colored 
"clouded  yarns"  by  wrapping  the  yarn  tightly  with  cotton  cord 
for  an  inch  every  eight  or  ten  inches,  dipping  it  all  in  the  dye. 
When  the  wrappings  were  removed  that  space  was  white  and 
when  woven  or  knitted  made  a  clouded  or  variegated  effect. 

The  Scotch  settlement  in  Pleasant  Township,  Switzerland 
County,  developed  the  art  of  hand-woven  fabrics  that  seems  to 
be  all  their  own  in  the  history  of  the  county.  About  thirty 
Scotch  families  immigrated  here  before  1825  and  settled  ten 
miles  back  from  the  river,  without  regard  to  county  lines,  in 
both  Switzerland  and  Jefferson  counties,  among  the  braes  and 
glens  and  dales  that  resembled  their  native  home,  brought  with 
them  their  craft  and  thrift,  and  made  a  bit  of  Scotland  for  them- 
selves. Their  church,  Caledonia,  was  built  on  the  county  line, 
the  "kirk"  in  Switzerland,  and  the  "kirkyard,"  where  they 
buried  their  dead,  in  Jefferson  County.  When  the  Wither- 
spoon  family  came  over,  they  brought  their  silver  spoons  and 
brass  candlesticks.  They  floated  down  the  Ohio  River  in  a 
flatboat.  They  were  weavers  of  Scotch  tartan  flannels,  the 
mother  weaving  and  the  girls  spinning.  Miss  Maggie  said, 
"Eight  cuts  was  a  day's  stint  for  us,  or  120  threads,  and  some- 
times we  were  through  our  stint  by  3  o'clock  on  the  afternoon." 

About  1835  or  1840  a  Scotch  tapestry  coverlet  weaver  named 
George  Simpson  arrived  in  the  settlement.     He  and  his  wife 


428  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 

lived  in  a  log  cabin  on  the  Witherspoon  farm.  He  operated  a 
Jacquard  loom  and  wove  for  housewives  of  the  neighborhood, 
who  spun  and  dyed  pounds  of  wool  that  each  child  might  have 
his  own  coverlet.  His  first  coverlet  was  made  for  Mrs.  Uzzia 
Stow.  After  weaving  the  center  he  waited  several  weeks  for  the 
border  pattern  to  arrive  from  England.  This  border  was  a 
trailing  vine  with  small  birds  scattered  along.  Miss  Wither- 
spoon has  a  Simpson  coverlet  in  blue  and  white,  design  of  oak 
leaves,  blocked  off  in  twelve  inch  blocks  by  fancy  columns,  end 
border  of  basket  of  roses,  side  border  a  vine,  and  in  each  corner 
an  eagle  with  spread  wings.  We  have  heard  of  several  others 
of  similar  designs. 

Before  the  Civil  War,  Mrs.  Cockerill,  of  Cumberland  Gap, 
Tennessee,  engaged  a  man  there  to  make  eight  tapestry  cover- 
lets, one  for  each  of  her  children.  When  he  had  woven  one  and 
half  of  another,  he  died.  She  could  not  find  a  Jacquard 
weaver  in  Tennessee  or  Kentucky  and  hearing  of  Mr.  Simpson, 
sent  her  yarn  to  Switzerland  County.  He  wove  the  seven 
coverlets  for  her.  Of  late  years,  her  son,  Major  Cockerill, 
wanted  to  buy  the  loom  on  which  they  were  made.  It  was 
found  stowed  in  dust  and  cobwebs  of  a  crib,  but  the  Major  died 
before  it  was  shipped  to  him  and  it  is  at  present  owned  by  Mr. 
Ed  Lamson,  of  Craig  Township,  Switzerland  County.  Mr. 
Simpson  died  about  1855.  He  is  referred  to  as  Simpson,  the 
weaver,  father  of  Dr.  Robert  Simpson,  a  popular  physician  in 
the  county,  who  was  born  in  1845  and  practiced  from  1870 
to  1900.   ' 

A  Scotch  bachelor,  Thomas  Cranston,  arrived  about  the 
time  Mr.  Simpson  died.  He  brought  his  Jacquard  loom  and 
began  weaving  the  tapestries.  He  had  served  a  seven  year  ap- 
prenticeship in  Scotland  to  learn  his  craft.  He  married  Miss  Ann 
Glenn,  of  Jefferson  County,  and  bought  a  farm  on  Brushy  Fork, 
where  he  built  a  limestone  house  in  the  garden  where,  as  one  of 
his  Scotch  friends  told  the  writer,  "he  wove  at  odd  times  and 
wet  spells."  He  had  a  book  of  patterns  from  which  his  patrons 
selected  the  one  they  liked.     I  have  seen  six  of  the  Cranston 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  429 

coverlets  and  heard  of  several  more  in  the  county,  all  blue  and 
white  except  Mrs.  Wiseman's  scarlet  and  white.  All  of  these 
coverlets  were  dyed  by  the  county  housewives.  Some  of  the 
tapestry  patterns  are  "moss  border  with  snails,"  "moss  and 
roses,"  Scotch  thistle  patterns,  large  medallion  and  small  polka 
dots,  with  a  small  bird  in  a  wreath  of  leaves  in  the  corner  of  the 
borders.  One  conventional  geometric  pattern  had  no  border. 
He  delighted  in  baskets,  roses,  and  borders  of  birds — eagles, 
larks,  and  blue  buntings.  In  1870  after  modern  machinery  had 
supplanted  the  hand  loom,  Thomas  Cranston  with  his  family 
moved  to  Kansas,  where  he  was  elected  to  the  state  legislature 
several  times. 

Mr.  Frances,  a  Scotch  weaver,  believed  in  advertising  his 
craft  by  solemnly  stating  to  each  patron  that  he  wove  his 
clover  blossoms  so  perfectly  that  the  bees  flew  on  them  to  suck 
up  the  honey.  A  blanket  weaver  amused  his  patrons  by  always 
speaking  of  making  his  tartans  "cleek"  instead  of  match. 

James  Baird,  an  Irishman,  was  a  professional  weaver,  but 
I  have  not  seen  any  of  his  work.  It  is  the  housewife's  coverlet, 
of  which  there  are  many  in  the  county,  that  has  the  strongest 
appeal  to  me.  The  sacrificing  woman  "who,  seeking  wool  and 
flax,  worked  willingly  with  her  hands,"  who  dreamed  and  spun, 
and  dreaming,  wove  a  fabric  unique  in  form  and  rare  in  color 
from  homely  products  around  her,  "covering  the  household 
with  tapestry,"  deserves  great  admiration.  Alas,  her  skill  and 
the  pride  of  her  art  died  with  her !  No  one  now  in  the  county 
can  thread  the  old  loom,  can  give  a  receipt  for  the  bark-herb 
dye,  or  can  count  the  thread  and  beat  of  the  "lover's  knot"  or 
the  "Whig  rose."  We  would  think  it  were  all  tradition  if  it 
were  not  for  the  beautiful  coverlets  that  in  their  perfect  fabrics 
and  the  beauty  of  their  fadeless  colors  testify  to  a  forgotten  art 
of  the  past. 

Interesting  Old  Coverlets  of  Indiana 

Many  interesting  bits  of  information  concerning  coverlets 
in  Indiana  have  come  to  light  during  the  search  for  the  history 


430  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 

of  old  coverlet  weavers.  One  of  the  oldest  coverlets  in  the 
state  was  shown  at  Brazil  during  the  Clay  County  centennial 
celebration.  It  was  made  in  England  in  1798  and  brought  to 
America  by  the  grandmother  of  Dorsey  Arvin,  its  present 
owner,  first  to  Kentucky,  and  then  to  Daviess  County,  Indiana. 

Another  very  old  coverlet  is  the  property  of  Mrs.  Dan  Car- 
ter, of  Rockville,  Indiana.  It  is  in  three  colors  and  of  an 
unusual  pattern.  When  Mrs.  Carter  bought  the  coverlet,  she 
had  the  owner  make  an  affidavit  as  to  the  truth  of  his  state- 
ment. Dr.  James  Corie  stated  that  this  coverlet  was  two  hun- 
dred years  old.  The  yarn  was  spun  and  woven  and  colored  by 
Mrs.  Johanna  Verlam  and  bequeathed  to  her  daughter,  Mrs. 
Mary  Comstock,  who  in  1814,  gave  it  to  her  daughter,  Mary 
Wanamaker  (fifteen  years  of  age)  in  exchange  for  splitting 
rails  to  enclose  their  cabin.  Mary  Wanamaker  at  her  death  in 
1885,  gave  the  coverlet  to  her  good  friend,  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Corie. 
On  Mrs.  Cone's  death  on  April  8,  1921,  it  passed  into  the 
hands  of  her  husband,  Dr.  James  Corie,  who  sold  it  to  Mrs. 
Carter.  The  Wanamakers,  says  Mrs.  Carter,  were  settlers 
of  Parke  County. 

A  coverlet  story  which  illustrates  the  high  esteem  in  which 
coverlets  were  held  and  the  desire  of  the  parents  to  present  each 
child  with  a  coverlet  is  told  of  Harry  M.  and  Rachel  A.  Clemons, 
of  Decatur  County,  who  had  eleven  coverlets  made  by  William 
Craig,  of  Greensburg.  Mr.  Clemons  sheared  the  sheep  and 
spun  the  wool  which  was  then  turned  over  to  the  Craigs.  Each 
year  for  ten  years  he  had  them  weave  a  double  coverlet,  paying 
each  time  five  dollars  for  the  weaving.  These  passed  into  the 
possession  of  the  Clemons'  children.  The  dates  of  the  covers 
are  all  in  the  forties. 

An  unusual  coverlet  shown  at  the  Tippecanoe  County  centen- 
nial exhibition  of  relics  has  an  intricate  pattern  showing  a 
farmer  plowing  in  his  field,  with  birds  flying  overhead,  and 
farm  buildings  scattered  about.  The  figures  are  quite  small 
and  the  pattern  is  repeated  over  the  entire  coverlet.  It  has  no 
trade-mark. 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  431 

A  woman  of  North  Vernon  describes  a  coverlet  which  is 
said  to  have  been  woven  for  her  grandmother  by  an  un- 
known weaver  near  Richmond,  Indiana,  in  1855,  as  having  a 
border  design  of  hunter  and  hounds.  A  somewhat  similar  de- 
sign forms  the  border  of  a  coverlet  in  the  possession  Mrs. 
Walter  Q.  Gresham,  of  Indianapolis.  The  design  is  a  hunting 
scene,  with  trees  in  the  background,  and  in  the  foreground,  a 
hunter  with  his  gun,  and  a  dog  in  pursuit  of  a  fleeing  deer.  In 
the  corner  is  a  trade-mark,  a  small  but  neatly  designed  two- 
story  building  with  an  elaborate  cupola.  The  date,  1848,  is 
woven  below. 

Three  child's  coverlets,  the  only  three  known  to  exist,  are 
owned  in  this  state.  One  was  woven  in  Ohio,  and  its  descrip- 
tion, by  Mrs.  J.  D.  Fogle,  of  Bourbon,  Indiana,  gives  its  size 
as  three  by  four  feet.  The  colors  are  dull  green,  dark  blue,  and 
white.  The  design  is  that  sometimes  known  as  "Young  Man's 
Fancy"  and  the  side  borders  are  of  birds  and  roses  while  the 
border  across  the  foot  is  of  grapes  and  leaves.  In  the  trade- 
mark square  is  the  weaver's  name,  "Vernon  township,  Crawford 
county,  Ohio.  J.  C.  Cole,  1861."  The  second,  in  the  possession 
of  Mrs.  A.  L.  Flanningham,  of  Thorntown,  Indiana,  is  thirty- 
six  by  thirty-two  inches  in  size,  with  a  four-inch  fringe  on  two 
sides  and  one  end.  The  colors  are  blue,  green,  and  two  shades 
of  red.  The  name  of  the  weaver  is  unknown.  The  third, 
woven  by  John  Whisler,  was  shown  at  a  coverlet  exhibit  at 
Milton,  Indiana,  in  1928.  It  was  the  duplicate  in  pattern  of  a 
large  coverlet  by  the  same  weaver,  and  was  evidently  ordered 
with  the  idea  of  having  the  covering  for  the  large  bed  and  the 
child's  bed  match. 

A  story  which  shows  a  woman's  regard  for  a  coverlet  which 
has  been  a  family  possession  for  many  years  is  told  by  Mrs. 
Ann  Mayer,  of  Indianapolis,  concerning  a  beautiful  blue  and 
white  coverlet  in  a  pattern  of  large  five-pointed  stars,  alternat- 
ing with  elaborate  curved  designs,  and  with  four  borders.  The 
trade-mark  is  a  large  single  flower,  without  date  or  name,  and 
the  weaver  is  unknown.    Mrs.  Mayer  states : 


432  Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana 

I  was  only  twelve  when  my  parents  died,  and  our  home  was 
broken  up  and  our  goods  put  up  at  auction.  Of  course  it  was  all 
hard  enough,  but  the  last  straw,  it  seemed  to  me,  was  the  loss  of  this 
coverlet.  Although  so  young,  I  bid  it  in,  with  the  understanding  that 
the  amount  bid  should  be  deducted  from  my  share  of  the  estate.  I 
wish  I  could  give  you  the  exact  age  of  the  coverlet.  I  am  eighty-one 
[this  letter  was  written  in  1926]  and  I  know  it  has  covered  four 
generations,  and  as  the  first  recollection  I  have  of  it  was  from  a  sister 
of  my  grandmother,  I  think  I  am  safe  in  saying  five  generations, 
anyway. 

A  passage  from  a  will  of  Dubois  County,  dated  April  29, 
1905,  disposing  of  over  $50,000,  shows  the  high  regard  in  which 
hand-woven  coverlets  are  held  in  some  families.  In  this  will 
Mrs.  Margaret  Sherritt  gave  to  John  H.  Sherritt  "a  coverlet 
made  by  Margaret  Gibson  Brown  more  than  a  hundred  years 
ago." 

It  is  not  possible,  within  the  limits  of  this  pamphlet,  to  list 
the  names  of  "single"  coverlet  weavers,  since  such  coverlets 
were  woven  in  many  households,  and  a  number  of  these  names 
have  been  preserved.  The  collector  of  coverlets  should  re- 
member that,  with  the  exception  of  Sarah  LaTourette,  who 
worked  with  her  father,  no  woman  is  known  to  have  mastered 
the  intricacies  of  the  loom  for  "double"  coverlet  weaving. 
While  the  tradition  has  come  down  in  many  families  that  the 
coverlets  were  woven  by  the  grandmother  or  great-grandmother, 
it  will  be  found  that  in  the  case  of  the  "double"  coverlet,  her 
work  was  confined  to  the  preparation  of  the  materials,  which 
were  then  taken  to  the  professional  weaver. 

The  Civil  War,  improved  machinery,  and  aniline  dyes 
brought  an  end  to  the  work  of  the  hand  weaver.  For  a  time 
some  coverlets  were  made  by  machinery  in  factories  after  the 
old  patterns.  These  are  easily  distinguished  from  the  others 
by  the  coloring  and  the  style  of  weaving.  They  have  little  of 
the  beauty  of  the  old  covers  with  their  soft  rich  dyes  and  beauti- 
ful weaving. 

The  period  of  the  hand-woven  coverlet  may  be  said  to  lie 
between  the  Colonial  days  and  the  Civil  War ;  in  Indiana,  from 
the  coming  of  the  first  settlers  into  this  territory  until  Civil 
War  days. 


Coverlet  Weaving  in  Indiana  433 

Much  material  remains  to  be  collected  regarding  this  branch 
of  art,  and  this  research  should  be  a  part  of  the  work  of  the 
county  historical  societies.  As  has  already  been  done  in  Wash- 
ington County,  the  coverlets  in  the  county  should  be  listed  and 
their  history,  so  far  as  possible,  recorded.  Those  that  were 
the  work  of  the  housewife  should  be  listed  separately  from 
those  that  were  the  work  of  the  professional  weaver.  In  old 
sheds  and  outhouses,  old  looms  are  falling  into  decay ;  every 
county  historical  society  should  preserve  one  of  these  that  the 
children  may  learn  from  it  something  of  the  laborious  art  of 
weaving.  The  names  of  the  weavers  of  "single"  coverlets,  in 
addition  to  those  of  the  professional  weavers  should  be  collected. 
Trade-marks  should  be  studied,  as  well  as  the  weaving  pat- 
terns, many  of  which  seem  to  be  peculiar  to  some  of  our 
weavers. 

Enthusiasts  over  handcraft  in  other  states  have  for  some 
years  been  making  collections  of  hand-woven  coverlets.  Our 
state  has  a  few  collectors  whose  collections  show  some  notable 
examples  of  the  weavers  both  of  this  state  and  others.  Those 
who  would  undertake  this  branch  of  collecting  should  be  re- 
minded that  even  a  fragment  is  desirable,  since  it  shows  pattern 
and  dyes,  and  that  both  "single"  and  "double"  coverlets  should 
be  included  in  the  collection.  A  collection  for  a  future  state 
museum  which  would  include  an  example  of  the  work  of  each 
of  our  professional  weavers  as  well  as  of  coverlets  woven  at- 
home  would  form  an  illuminating  page  of  early  Indiana  history. 
Perhaps  half  the  charm  of  coverlet  study  comes  from  the  fact 
that  in  it  one  reads  so  much  of  the  story  of  the  Indiana  pioneer. 


